The Dragon's Soul
by The Black Cat 666
Summary: Hiccup: The weak scrawny Viking that always screws up. Yeah right. Hiccup, a human born with a dragon's soul, found out that dragons were good long before the first movie and works to help them in secret. Let's see how the timeline plays out when Hiccup isn't quite what everyone thinks he is. This will get a bit bloody at some points, and there's cursing, which is why it's rated T.
1. Chapter 1

**Yay! My first story! I hope all of you readers enjoy it and review! No I do _not_ own How to Train Your Dragon. If I did, the storyline would be very, _very_ different and Astrid would not be here. Nope. We'd have Camacazi instead; who is a _much_ better character and overall person. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!**

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Chapter 1: How to Infiltrate Your Vikings

An island guarded by two huge statues rises proudly out of the raging nighttime ocean, a town full of torches on its front where guards waited on catapults and patrolled the city's streets. In the forge, a hammer could be heard clanging away on metal into the late hours of the night.

Suddenly, a dark blue parrot-like reptile swooped down and snatched a sheep grazing in the pasture stealthily before lifting off.

A guard spotted more dragons coming in and shouted an all too familiar phrase through the village: "DRAGON RAID!"

Immediately, the village responded. Huge, bulking people rushed from their homes, weapons at the ready, charging out to fight the invading forces.

In a house that overlooked the entire village, a boy woke up, flung off his covers, put on his boots, and whipped the front door of his house open excitedly.

A nightmare perched outside, almost ready to kill a Viking, was startled by this sudden development. It roared at him. _"If somebody doesn't mistakenly shoot you, the Vikings will slaughter you. Go back in!"_ Then he blasted at the door, forcing Hiccup to close it. "Dragons."

In a word, his overly protective adopted family, seeing as his Dad didn't want the role. Hiccup, when he was young and fresh out of a beating, had been found by a female Nadder. She'd taken care of him for a few days, healed him, and implanted dragoneese into his mind so he could talk to other dragons.

He'd never been able to stand the Viking way since.

He rushed out the door of his home stubbornly. He would do anything he could to help the dragons (Who, after a few visits to the nest with his 'mother' Blue-Fast-Flier considered him one of them) without making it look like he was openly siding with them.

A flung axe landed in front of Hiccup, who stopped in time to avoid it. He jogged around the weapon protruding from the ground and jogged towards the Blacksmith shop.

Suddenly, a warrior was flung through the air, landing on Hiccup, axe raised, with a battle cry. Suddenly he turned cheerful. "Mornin'!" Then he got up and jogged off.

"What are you doing out!?" One of his neighbors, Hoark, cried.

"Get inside!" Another neighbor, Burnthair, shouted.

A third neighbor, Phlegma the Fierce, agreed. "Get back inside!"

And finally, he passed the last neighbor, Ack, who was picking his ear with his axe. A Terror(Small-biter, in the dragon vocabulary) watched this all with amusement. _"This one's funny. And weird. And slightly gross, but funny."_

Suddenly, as Hiccup ran down the street, a huge, meaty hand grabbed him and pulled him into the air. Hiccup winced. "What is he doing out aga-WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT!? GET INSIDE!"

Hiccup's father, the chief of Berk, and most renowned Dragon Slayer in the Archipelago, was the owner of the meaty hand. There was a rumor that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head right off its shoulders. His surrogate mother had assured Hiccup that this was not the case, but Hiccup still couldn't help but feel like it was true.

As if to confirm this, Stoic flung a cart at an unlucky Nadder, dazing her and causing her to drop a sheep.

Hiccup jogged into the forge, looking for his newest invention. It was designed to malfunction, just as they all were, but if Gobber had closely examined them he would have found that they could actually work if Hiccup didn't intentionally sabotage them when he built them.

His plan was ruined by Gobber the Belch, who was (unsurprisingly) already there. "Ah, there ye are! I was starting to think ye'd been carried off!"

Hiccup laughed. "What, who, me? Nah I'm waaay too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all… this."

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?" Gobber joked right back.

Hiccup knew that he was at extreme risk of being carried off every raid, but he knew they wouldn't do it to eat him, rather just to get him the heck out of danger. It wasn't often that dragons adopted humans, but dragons were extremely protective of their friends and family.

Hiccup got to work fixing weapons, a chore he disliked. The problem was, he'd started blacksmithing before Blue-Fast-Flier had adopted him. Gobber knew how good he was. Besides, he'd never use his skills (Other than speed) that he'd learned from the dragons in front of humans. To them, he looked like a noodle. If they knew he could pretty much kill at least ten of them in a fair fight it wouldn't be good for him at all.

There was a shout from a dragon outside. _"Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy, we need a distraction!"_

Hiccup would respond, but he couldn't risk it.

There was a Viking shout. "Fire!"

And the teens ran through.

Hiccup wrinkled his nose in distaste. Typical Viking children. There was Fishlegs, who liked to research all he could about dragons and offer up the best ways to kill them (and warning people of their strategies so that more dragons would end up dead), The twins (Who caused more destruction to the village than they fixed, which amused the dragons to no end), Snotlout, (his cousin and bully, but also his savior in the way that the beating he gave Hiccup lead him to meet his surrogate mother), and then…

Astrid. Ugh.

The cold-hearted heap of Red-Death manure that couldn't give a rat's rear end about anything but being the best dragon killer on Berk. She hated pretty much everybody, and even when she was walking past someone who really needed her help, she wouldn't offer it. She was indifferent to anything and everything but her own success.

He snorted as they dumped a pitiful amount of water onto a burning house. It would take more than that to put out a dragon's fire… Especially one as hot as Melts-Rock-For-Fun's flame. The Nadder in question, a red, yellow, and black dragon who looked like he was made of lava, shrieked mockingly at the teens as he blasted a hut full of sheep, scaring the skittish creatures into fleeing the barn.

He watched his friend with envy.

His job was so much cooler.

Suddenly, a metal appendage(one of Gobber's replacement hands, since he's missing a hand and a foot) latched onto Hiccup's shirt, and he was lifted into the building. "Ah, come on, let me out, please, I need to make my mark." Hiccup, realizing he'd been caught staring, decided to pretend he'd been staring at the teens.

"Oh, you've made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places." Gobber poked his chest with the last three words.

Internally, Hiccup rationalized that it all depended on which side the marks were being made for. He swallowed down bile and said, "Please, I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better, I might even get a date." Blegh. He wasn't interested in dragon killers. Maybe if he found a nice non-dragon-hating girl who was available, he'd date her. But no one in the village. Yuck.

Besides, the only way his life would get infinitely better would be if his mother allowed him to leave Berk entirely.

Unfortunately, he still had arena dragons to free and the arena to trash (As well as the forge, the armory, and maybe the great hall). And Blue-Flies-Fast felt that human interaction was important for his growth, seeing as he was a human himself.

Gobber decided to provide him with some excuses. "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe, you can't even throw one of these!" He held up a bola, which was wrapped around a friend of his, sending her to the ground. With some sickness, he recognized Lugs-Much-Meat as the dragon to fall.

Feeling vengeful, he moved towards his sabotaged invention. "Okay, but this will throw it for me." He tapped it in _just_ the right spot and it flew open, the front flying off to slam into the Viking who threw the bola's head. The man fell unconscious, going cross-eyed as he did so.

"See, now this right here is what I'm talking about." Gobber said.

Hiccup kept up the ruse. "Mild calibration issue!"

Gobber cut him off. "Look. If you ever want to get out there and fight dragons, you need to stop all… this." Gobber gestured to all of him.

If only he could see his apprentice without the spell that kept him looking like a walking noodle. "But… you just pointed to all of me."

"Yes, that's it! Stop being all of you!"

Hiccup internally rolled his eyes. A saying all dragons used: _"If you can't be yourself, then you can't be anyone at all."_

"Ohhh…" Hiccup had to force himself not to growl like a dragon.

"Ohhh, yes." Gobber cut him off.

"You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping all this raw…" He stopped himself from saying dragon soul, as it was a tendency to brag when he was in an argument with the people (Cough*dragons*cough) he normally talked to(Dragon souls were rare in humans, and dragon souled humans were very powerful) "…Vikingness" He said past bile, "Contained? There will be consequences!"

Gobber rolled his eyes. "I'll take my chances. Sword, sharpen. Now." He dumped it into Hiccup's arms, who was surprised by the sudden weight. He snorted like an upset nadder and started sharpening the weapon, making sure to make the edge a bit too fine on this one.

One day, he knew he'd be out there, fighting for his _true_ people.

He spotted nadders landing, collecting sheep. His mother was amongst them. Nadders were quick and agile, if slightly vain and short-tempered. The Vikings who went after his kin would be nice kills to start with.

Then there were the gronkles. While tough, they were slow fliers. He could do well defending them to start out with, he mused, spotting them flying off with racks of fish in their jaws. Then there were Zipplebacks. They were annoying. He wouldn't want to fight side-by-side with _those_ jokers.

Then there were Monstrous Nightmares. Being practically raised by nadders, Hiccup was very familiar with how annoying the Nightmares could be, and would rather jump off a cliff without his wingsuit or another dragon around than fly with one of them.

Then, of course, was the Night Fury.

He watched in excitement as a tower blew up, and the Vikings cowered from his friend. Friendly-Retractable-Teeth was the most feared dragon to attack Berk, which all dragons though ironic, seeing as he was the most cute and cuddly (though he objected to both adjectives) dragon in the nest. Hiccup would love to be up with his friend during the raids.

He watched, withholding a cheer, as his ape of a father jumped into the freezing sea to escape his best friend's plasma.

Gobber quickly traded his hammer for an axe. "Man the forge, Hiccup. They need me out there."

Hiccup watched, bubbling with anticipation.

Gobber paused at the entrance. "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean." Then he charged out with a war cry.

Hiccup eyed his invention with distaste, then grabbed it and ran off, knocking into a Viking as he went and shouting, "Be right back!" To an irritated Viking who yelled at him.

He rolled it up to a cliff and, without premise, aimed it at Astrid and fired, shoving it off a cliff right after he did this.

It practically exploded onto the rocks below.

"I can blame that on the calibration issue." He said to himself.

Suddenly, he spotted his mother in a net, held down by his so-called father.

" _Blue-Flies-Fast!"_ He cried.

Friendly-Retractable-Teeth blew up a catapult behind him, and a rather tolerable Nightmare, Tempermental-Chases-Ships, landed. _"Is that your mother?"_

" _Yes."_ Hiccup responded. _"They'll kill her!"_

" _Unless we distract them."_ He said, grinning.

Hiccup nodded, also smiling. Time for a show.

And this was how he ended up shooting down the docks, giving the girliest scream he could muster, while the nightmare 'chased' him down the hill.

As they'd predicted, Stoic left the nadders. Friendly-Retractable-Teeth blasted a final catapult, distracting the Vikings and allowing the net to go a bit slack.

" _Let's burn the torch over there."_ Hiccup suggested. _"See if we can roll it at the Vikings!"_

" _Sounds like fun! Now less talk and more running for your life."_ He blasted again and Hiccup 'hid' behind a torch, letting the fire splatter it and coat it, looking behind him. _"I don't see their Alpha yet."_

There was a hum from behind him as the Nightmare agreed, and then Stoic leapt in from the opposite direction they were looking, chasing Tempermental-Chases-Ships back into the sky.

The torch snapped off its base, and as predicted, rolled downhill and resulted in the freedom of the nadders.

Hiccup felt triumph surge through him as they successfully retreated, but hid it perfectly through years of practice.

Then it turned to dread as his father glared him down. He rubbed his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Dad." The words felt wrong on his toung.

Stoic sighed exasperatedly and shoved him at Gobber. "Get him back to the house. I have his mess to clean up."

Is this how a father is supposed to treat his child every day? No.

He walked past the mass of Vikings, making internal fat jokes at them and wishing they'd go 'clean up his mess' as his father so eloquently put it. It would be satisfying.

"Quite the performance." Tuffnut congratulated him while his sister cackled.

"I've never seen anybody mess up that badly. That helped!" Snotlout said.

"You _Idiot!"_ Astrid growled at him, arms bruised and sporting obvious rope-burns.

Hiccup inwardly grinned. What would have been insults to any other viking's ears rang like praise in his. He faked depression still, though, but nonetheless, said "Thank you, I was trying." He really had been. _Especially_ with the Astrid incident.

Hiccup sighed as he approached Stoic's house, deciding to vent. "You know, he could be a little less harsh. What was I supposed to do, fight the nightmare? I don't know how! It trashed my bola launcher! No matter how hard I try, he always looks at me with this disappointed scowl like someone skipped all the meat in his sandwich. 'Excuse me barmaid, I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I wanted a boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side! This here, this is a walking fishbone!'"

"You're thinking about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside that he can't stand."

Hiccup marveled at how Gobber managed to always be insensitive and generally cruel like that while trying to console his apprentice.

"Thank you for summing that up." Hiccup replied. It always hurt to be reminded about how much his birth parent hated him.

"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not." Gobber commented.

Hiccup sighed. He wished he could stop pretending to be a Viking already. But he couldn't.

Without another word, he entered his home.

And a minute later, he burst out of the house again, wearing dark green, brown, and grey dragon-like armor he'd made himself with fake wings attached to the back, heading into the woods.

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 **Hiccup: Yay! Finally, a story where I'm not a total weakling!**

 **Astrid: Noodle boy.**

 **Hiccup: As stated, there's a spell disguising me as a noodle boy in this one! I can be happy now!**

 **Astrid: You _shot_ me and you're _happy_ about it?**

 **Fishlegs: Well, in this story, it _does_ kind of capture your behavior before the cannon timeline well.**

 **Snotlout: Does this mean I can have Astrid now?**

 **Astrid: God no. In your dreams. You know what, not even there. Go swimming in a pool of fireworms.**

 **Ruffnut: No, wait! I volunteer Tuffnut!**

 **Tuffnut: Yeah... wait, what are we talking about?**

 **Ruffnut: *Drags Tuffnut away with an evil cackle***

 **Hiccup: ... Well then, somebody should probably go make sure they don't kill one another. TOOTHLESS!**

 **Astrid: Hiccup, you _do_ realize that he's not _technically_ been introduced to the storyline yet, right? He was just a background element so far.**

 **Hiccup: Oh, right. *Single tear falls* I miss you buddy...**

 **The Black Cat 666: Whelp, that wraps that up. Hey, readers! Please...**

 **Snotlout: Hold on, people actually read this cra... OWW *Holds clutches lumpy forehead***

 **The Black Cat 666: *Clenches slightly shaking fist, eyes closed, tick mark on her forehead, teeth clenched* As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, please review! Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello people! Seeing as I got favorites on this story after the first 20 or so minutes of me posting it, I guess that means you like the story! And having 11 follows and 10 favorites when I check this in the morning? Man, that's better than what I expected! Alright, now without further ado: here is Chapter two! (Hehe, I rhymed)**

Chapter 2

How to Be a Dragon

Hiccup raced through the trees swiftly and gracefully, the 'noodle' illusion, as he liked to call it, gone, revealing a lean but muscular figure that looked more like a dragon than a human, especially with his fireproof armor and wings that he could attach to his arms.

He wasn't Hiccup to useless in that moment. No, he was a Dragon-Souled, Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy, the son of Blue-Flies-Fast the deadly Nadder.

He leapt off a cliff and into the early morning fog, dissipating into the light of dawn, attaching the fake wings to his arms and flying away from Berk towards the nest, his true home.

He flew more slowly than a nadder, but years of practice (since he was six, actually) let him fly long distances and fly faster than your average Zippleback.

Making a last minute decision, he flew with down to a fishing ship that had cast off early and had sailed (inevitably) into a patch of fog and watched them pull up the first net of fish, waiting until they dumped it and began sorting it before he snagged ten fish and store them in a small bag before flying off.

The Vikings of Berk sometimes caught glimpses of him, as they did when he flew from the ship. They called him the Forest Phantom, a dragon only seen on Berk. He'd heard Fishlegs talking about him before and almost laughed his ass off.

He heard a gasp and a cry of "Forest Phantom!" From the ship as he flew out of range of bolas.

The trip to the nest went much quicker than it would have if he'd been taking a boat. With the bit of dragon magic he possessed, he detected the pull of the queen. He couldn't make the same humming noise as the dragons, but they recognized him all the same.

He flew into the nest late and dumped his load in the direction of the queen's head before landing on a rock.

" _Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy!"_ A joyous voice called.

The human-dragon smiled at his best friend as the Night Fury leapt up. _"I saw your distraction! Good work freeing those nadders. Any luck with that flamethrower you were talking about?"_

" _No."_ He responded. _"I haven't figured out how to secure the fake wings into a gliding position yet. Even with Boulder-Tail steel they still come loose. Unfortunately, I can't use a flamethrower without my hands. I think I'll just stick to the claw gauntlets and the spike-launchers."_

" _So, anything new with the Vikings considering your dragon-self's reputation?"_

" _They spotted me when I left with the fish, but nothing else happened."_ He responded.

" _I thought you were supposed to be stealthy, Stealthy!"_

" _They only spotted me after I left the fog."_ The human-dragon reminded his friend. _"They would never have noticed me if I decided to really be stealthy."_

Toothless, as was the shortened version of his name, hummed. _"True. You can sneak like an acid-spitter when you want to."_

The Nadder responsible for raising Hiccup since he was six years of age flew over. _"There you are! I was getting worried! After you and Tempermental-Sinks-Ships put on that show…"_ She crooned sadly. _"Oh, I wish I didn't have to leave you behind every raid. It always breaks my heart to do so. If only I could just take you with me."_

" _It's okay Mother!"_ Stealthy (as was the shortened version of his name) chirped back. _"If they don't know I'm a Dragon-Soul, then I can keep sabotaging their defenses. Besides, if I got carried off by a dragon, as they'd see it, like my birth-mother, their alpha would go on a rampage."_

She sighed. _"Ah, Kind-Of-Heart. She saved me from having my head lopped off, as you know. She always did believe that dragons were better than Vikings think we are, and then she was taken by that Four-wing from another nest."_

It was a great honor, and extremely significant, for one who wasn't a dragon to receive a dragon name. Stealthy had received it due to his dragon family. Kind-Of-Heart, or Valka, had received hers for being just that, kindhearted and fair. No dragon would even touch her during a raid, something that was harshly enforced by everyone there. Then the four-wing had taken her away, his reasons unknown, and they'd been unable to help her.

Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy nodded.

He spent the rest of the day at the nest, roughhousing with his heart-brother Toothless and other dragons their age, racing (and inevitably never winning, but having a good time) fishing, and sunbathing.

Amongst the dragons, he wasn't judged for being a human. He had their trust, and that was enough for them.

A Small-bitter landed in front of him as he and his friends roused from their evening naps. He barked to gain their attention _. "We launched a raid. The queen wants Melts-Rock-For Fun there. Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy, you should go back to the human nest. It's getting late and they might miss you."_

The boy with a dragon's soul snorted like a dragon and stretched. _"Yeah, I'm going, just let me say some goodbyes first."_

He flew inside of the nest, and spotted his mother, waiting expectantly for him. _"I assume you're leaving now."_ She said.

Stealthy nodded. _"I am."_

Depression settled into her again and she licked the side of his head. _"Stay safe, keep clean, make sure you eat enough, and if any of those Vikings give you trouble, you can just fly home and I'll go teach them manners."_

" _And I'm coming with you!"_ Stealthy turned to see Friendly-Retractable-Teeth behind him. _"So is Melts-Rock-For-Fun once he's done raiding the Vikings, and Small-Biter-Shoots-Sharp, Small-Biter-Sneaks, Small-Biter-Very-Painful, Small-Biter-Rams-Heads-With-Her-Brother, Small-Biter-Rams-Heads-With-His-sister, and Small-Biter-Fetches-Random-Objects. They'll come with Melts-Rock-For-Fun."_

Stealthy grinned. _"You'll be in the cove, right?"_

" _Yep!"_

" _I'll visit as often as I can, then."_ Stealthy smiled. _"Let's go to the Viking Nest."_

He roared in agreement, and the two friends flew out of the nest.

~o0o~

Hiccup finished taking off his armor, his Dad stoking the fire downstairs, and stowed it. He sighed, looking at himself in the mirror.

He was muscular, but still thin and lean. His eyes were fierce, his hair windswept. The green tunic and bear skin jacket didn't go with his features at all.

But they did once he used his small (but growing) amount of magic to make himself look like that thin, weak runt all the Vikings thought he was.

Noodle illusion on, he began to walk downstairs.

According to the Vikings, he hadn't eaten. Even though he much preferred raw fish (he picked it up from dragon culture) he would eat the burned fish that Vikings ate. The poultry, however, it was agreed amongst both dragons and humans, must be cooked before eating.

Have you ever tried to eat a raw chicken? It makes everyone get sick. (salmonella). Yaks were pretty much inedible to dragons, and Vikings didn't eat them either. Well, the queen did, but that was just when some larger dragon wanted her to get indigestion.

His Dad looked up at him as he walked down, surprised that Hiccup had arrived without his knowledge but not showing it. "Hiccup, I have to speak with you."

"Oh?" Hiccup asked, starting to regret going down. He prayed that he didn't have to talk much, his breath still smelled like raw fish and Stoic might smell it.

"I've decided it's time you learn to fight dragons." Stoic said.

Hiccup paled. "Ah, um, actually, Dad…"

"You'll need this." Stoic put an axe in his hands.

Hiccup almost dropped it. Living amongst dragons had taught him to refine his sense of smell. This weapon, of steel and blood, smelled terrible.

"Uh, Dad… you're actually thinking about putting _me_ in the ring? That's ridiculous! I do enough damage _without_ waving around a weapon as it is, right?"

"To the dragons or the village?" Stoic asked.

Hiccup couldn't help himself. "Which do you think? Anyways…"

"Think about it, if you know what you're doing, you won't be destroying the village!"

"Or I could screw up and wreck the arena."

Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.

If he went into dragon training, he'd have an excuse to spend more time in the arena! He could free all the dragons, do poorly enough that he wasn't the top student, and then, when he was a 'warrior', he could do more damage to the Vikings!

Or, things could go horribly wrong (because when it came to his skills, he might forget himself and start acting like himself) and he could take first place.

End point: He didn't want to fight dragons.

Time to be completely stubborn.

"I don't _want_ to fight dragons." Hiccup snapped finally.

"What? Yes you do!" Stoic laughed.

Hiccup growled, sounding a bit Nadder-like when he did so, nearly shrieking and flinging the axe into the wall. "I don't think you get it, do you? I. Will. Not. Fight. Dragons."

Even Stoic wasn't so dense as to not recognize a challenge when he heard one. He was surprised. His son had never tried something like this before… Perhaps it was his teenage rebellion finally starting to show. "Son, if you want to be chief of this tribe, you must learn to fight dragons."

"And who says I want to be chief?" Hiccup snapped, very aware that he was treading on very thin ice. " _Anyone_ would be a better candidate than me!" Seriously, he was a dragon if not by birth than by heart.

"As long as you are my son, you are the heir, and that means the future chief. And because you are the future chief of this tribe, you will fight dragons." He growled, then said, "When you carry this axe, you carry all of us. You must learn to walk like us, talk like us, and think like us."

Hiccup growled low in his throat, which Stoic luckily didn't notice. He did, however, notice the furious look on his son's face, and the teeth that were showing. He brushed both things off to spending too much time alone with the animals in the forest, something he intended to rectify. "Deal?"

No response.

"DEAL!?" He practically roared in his son's face. The boy recoiled and bit back a hiss, wishing he really could breathe fire, or at least that he still had his claw gauntlets on. Then again, he did have a really big axe with him…

And no training on how to use it.

With a huff, he looked away. "Deal." The undertone of a dragon's growl was still there, but Stoic didn't notice it either. He'd heard what he wanted to hear.

"Good. I'm going to search for the nest. I'll be back, probably." He walked towards the door.

"And I'll be here, maybe." Hiccup ground out as the door closed.

He waited until his father's footsteps faded down the path and flung the axe into the wall, nearly shrieking out loud like a dragon. He growled as the axe thunked satisfyingly into wood, then blinked, regarding it curiously.

No wonder Astrid went out and threw those things at trees so often! It was an excellent way to vent.

He refused to take the axe out of the wall. The less he had to touch it, the better.

He already felt filthy just from holding it.

Storming upstairs, he paced, huffing and growling, seething to himself until he'd worked off enough anger to go to sleep.

* * *

 **Toothless: Your Dad was mean back then!**

 **Hiccup: Yeah. And what was this about me growling?**

 **Astrid: Probably the fact that in this story, you were practically raised by dragons. Nice axe-throwing skills, by the way.**

 **Hiccup: I don't think I can do that in cannon.**

 **Ruffnut: Oh really? Come on, show us!**

 **Tuffnut: Show us! Show us! Wait, what do we want him to show us again?*Shudders violently* Does it have to do with fireworms again?**

 **Snotlout: Ah, come on, Tuffnut, it couldn't have been that bad. You definitely got the burn scars you used to want so badly!**

 **Fishlegs: Key word: Used to.**

 **Snotlout: Those are _two_ words, Fishlegs!**

 **Fishlegs: *Cries in a corner***

 **Melts-Rock-For-Fun: Hi!**

 **Astrid: Why are you called Melts Rock For Fun?**

 **MRFF: Why do you think?**

 **Black Cat: He Melts Rock for Fun. Remember how he lit that house on fire and nothing you did could put it out because the fire was so damn hot?**

 **Hiccup: Oh yeah. I remember now; chapter one said he did it.**

 **Black Cat: And that's a wrap for now!**

 **Snotlout: What? No! I had things I wanted to say! We were supposed to watch Hiccup try and throw an axe! OWW! *Rubs the newer lump on his head***

 **Black Cat: *Eerily happy* and as I said, _That. Is. A. Wrap._ See ya!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Day three, Chapter 3! I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter of: The Dragon's Soul! And seriously, thank all you people who have already decided to follow and favorite my story and all of you awesome readers who have been reading this story on the second day of it being posted. You are** _ **all**_ **awesome! I hope for more follows, favorites, and reviews in the furure!**

Chapter 3

How to Train (to kill) Your Dragon

The next morning, Hiccup walked down the stairs and wrenched the accursed axe off the wall, glaring at it with hatred in his gaze. _"Look, axe,"_ He spat in the way the nadders (and consequently he) spoke, _"You're a vile, disgusting, piece of metal designed for death. The way I see it, you won't kill one more creature. You and I just need to work together for a little bit, got it?"_

There was, unsurprisingly, no reply.

Growling to himself, he held it as far away from himself as humanly possible without suggesting he was disgusted by it and walked out the door, heading down to the arena as Gobber shouted, "Welcome to dragon training!" The arena gate was flung open.

Hiccup reeled back in disgust when he caught a whiff of the place.

Death, blood, gore, the place smelled almost as bad as the Red Death. And the dragons inside it… He was horrified to find that they were Lugs-Much-Meat, his cousin Flies-Through-Storms, a Nightmare he'd met a few times named Arrogant-Fire-Brain, A terror named Easily-Distracted, and a Zippleback named Brainless-Mischief-Makers.

He watched the other students walking in. There were the fire brigade teens in front and three walking behind them, a blonde boy named Magnus, Dogsbreath the Duhbrain (an idiot, Snotlout's best friend), a fun-loving redheaded girl with light brown eyes named Eydis the fiery, and None other than Camacazi of the bog burglars, who had arrived while he was out. She was the only other one who seemed a bit out-of-place, but only because all her hostility was towards Snotlout, Dogsbreath, the twins, and Astrid instead of the dragons. She cast Hiccup a brief smile, and he waved a bit.

There were only two humans he was friends with in the world: Camacazi and Thuggory, the heir to the meathead tribe.

"No turning back." Astrid announced.

"I hope I get some serious burns." Tuffnut added.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, maybe on my shoulder or lower back." Ruff added.

"I hope I get to give you those burns, Tuff." Eydis joked, already playing with a stick she'd set on fire.

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Astrid replied.

"If you want to be a walking patch of scar tissue by the time you hit thirty, that is." Camacazi deadpanned.

"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain, love it." Hiccup drawled.

"That's the spirit!" She cheered.

"Oh great. Who let him in?" Tuffnut complained.

"His Dad is probably hoping he'll get eaten so Snotlout can be chief instead of him." Dogsbreath commented.

"Rude." Hiccup growled under his breath, too quiet for the others to hear him.

"Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing their first dragon in front of the entire village!"

Eydis seemed disinterested by this, as she was with most things. The teen continued ignoring Gobber until Hiccup elbowed her. She rolled her eyes and tossed her flaming stick onto the ground.

Gobber moved over to Hiccup as they walked in. "Don't worry, you're small and weak. The dragons will see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead."

" _Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy? Is that you?"_ Flies-Through Storms called.

" _If he is, he can't respond, stupid."_ Arrogant-Flame-Brain responded.

" _Tap your foot three times if you are!"_ Lugs-Much-Meat called.

Nobody but the dragons noticed (or cared) when he did.

" _Ah, are they pitting you against us now? One tap if they have, two if they haven't."_ Easily distracted called.

He stepped down once.

" _Ah, man!"_

" _We'll fake it, just like always."_

It made him feel relatively better about it.

This whole time, Gobber had begun speaking. "The Deadly Nadder."

" _Damn right I'm deadly!"_

"Speed eight, armor sixteen." Fishlegs said. Camacazi shot him a weird look and moved over to Hiccup. "So, what happened to you? You were in much better shape last time we met."

"I… uh… you know why!" He hissed. She just grinned.

"The Hideous Zippleback."

" _We're not hideous!"_

" _Yes you are!"_ Arrogant-Flame-Brain shouted.

"Plus eleven stealth. Times two." Both heirs shot him rather irritated glances.

"The Monstrous Nightmare."

" _Hey! Who're you calling Monstrous! I am the most handsome dragon around!"_

" _Haha! K-A-R-M-A!"_

" _SHUT UP!"_

"Firepower fifteen." Camacazi sighed.

The terrible terror."

" _Who what where when?"_

"Attack eight, venom twelve." Fishlegs shouted excitedly.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT!?" Gobber shouted. He calmed down. "And, the Gronkle."

" _Oh, I see how it is. They all get cool titles and I'm just 'the gronkle'."_

Gobber rested his hand on the lever. Hiccup tensed, knowing that even if Lugs-Much-Meat didn't want to hurt him, she would have to actually fight him if this was to look believable. Camacazi sidled up to him. "So how's this goanna go? You goanna drop the act and show off or play the noodle game?" She didn't actually know he used dragon magic. She just thought he pretended to be a noodle boy as a joke.

"Wait, aren't you going to teach us first?" Snotlout cried.

"Option two." He whispered. "Bit of comic relief."

"I believe in learning on the job." Gobber replied, pulling the lever.

Lugs-Much-Meat exploded from her cage and plowed towards the teens, splitting them up. Eydis whipped her bow out and got ready to fire.

"Quick, what's the first thing you need?" Gobber called.

"A doctor?" Hiccup called sarcastically.

"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs asked.

"More explosives!" Eydis giggled maniacally.

"A shield!" Astrid called.

"Shields, go!" Gobber shouted.

"How am I supposed to use a bow while I'm lugging a shield around? How am I supposed to use a shield while I'm shooting a bow?" Eydis whined.

Gobber ignored her. "If you ever have to choose between a sword and a shield, pick the shield!"

"But what if you're an _archer_?"

" _She has a point, you know."_ Lugs-Much-Meat called, searching for him. _"By the eternals, Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy, your disguise is good! Which one are you?"_

Hiccup spent a bit longer than what was necessary fiddling with his shield. Gobber shoved it into his arms and shoved him into the ring. He squawked like a nadder top catch her attention. _"Wow, you were right to call that thing a noodle disguise."_

Ruff and Tuff started fighting over a shield. Lugs-Much-Meat blasted it. _"Hah! Take that, stupid! What's defending you now?"_

"Ruff, Tuff, you're out!"

Eydis was just hovering on the edge of the ring. "Seriously! Gobber, Gobbs? What the heck am I supposed to do with a shield?"

"Block dragon fire." He drawled. "Now GET IN THERE!"

"But my weapon requires two hands!"

"JUST TAKE THE SHIELD!"

She hesitantly lifted the shield. Meatlug took pity on her and blasted it out of her hand.

"Eydis, that's it!"

The archer ran out of the arena.

"Those shields are good for another reason. Noise. Make lot of it. It throws off a dragon's aim."

They started banging on their shields, and Meatlug got dizzy. Hiccup may have concealed it well, but the noise made by the shields was giving him a headache, and he had to stop so he didn't accidentally drop his spell, which was made of dragon magic.

"All dragons have limited shots. How many does a gronkle have?"

"Five?" Snotlout called.

"No, six!" Fishlegs replied.

"Correct! That leaves three of you safe!"

Lugs-Much-Meat blasted Fishleg's shield from his hand, and he fled with a girly scream. "Fishlegs, out!"

The remainder of the teens started banging on their shields again, and Hiccup backed away from the group, nearly attacking the Vikings and treating the whole thing like a raid.

Gobber saw his retreat and called, "Hiccup, get in there!" Lugs-Much-Meat blasted in Hiccup's direction, knocking Dogsbreath's shield out of his hand as the lava shot towards the teen. Hiccup leapt to the side. "Dogsbreath, get out!"

Snotlout sidled up to Astrid and started flirting with her, and she leapt away, putting him in the line of fire as lava slammed into his shield, sending him flying. "Snotlout, you're done!"

Astrid rolled to a stop beside Hiccup, and they were joined by Magnus and Camacazi.

"So, just us four, huh?" Magnus commented.

"Nope. Just you three." Astrid leapt away. Hiccup reacted differently, dragging shoving Magnus and Camacazi away from Lugs-Much-Meat's blast. They split into different directions, and Lugs-Much-Meat chased Astrid, body slamming her into the wall. Hiccup watched with anticipation as her final shot built in her mouth to finish off the girl.

Then Gobber intervened, pulling her up by her jaw so that the shot slammed into the wall, hauling his friend back into the cage. "And that's six! Go back to bed, you overgrown sausage! You'll get another chance, don't you worry."

Hiccup felt his blood boil, being careful to hide it.

He looked at Astrid sternly. "Remember, a dragon will always go for the kill."

Hiccup growled lowly. No they didn't! He was living proof of that.

Astrid gulped and looked up at the steaming wall before standing, composing herself, and walking away.

Hiccup jogged back to his house, flung the axe back into the wall (smirking at the satisfying thunk it made as it hit the wood) and raced into his room, donning his dragon armor, and sneaking out of his house.

He raced through the forest, moving like a dragon, until he spotted Astrid flinging her axe around.

He perched in the branches high above her and considered jumping down and slashing her throat open, then decided against it. No need to get the whole village to hunt him down.

Yet.

He continued on his merry way, not making a sound. Astrid never even knew he was there.

He took off as soon as there was an open area and glided down into the cove. His friends were already there.

" _Stealthy! You smell like the arena. Why?"_ Asked Melts-Rock-For-Fun.

" _They want to turn me into a dragon killer."_ He hissed distastefully. _"They made me fight Lugs-Much-Meat."_

They hissed and growled angrily.

Suddenly, Friendly-Retractable-Teeth perked up. _"Hold on, I have had an epiphany!"_

" _And that would be?"_ Stealthy asked.

" _Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy, you now have an excuse to be in the arena. You can familiarize yourself with the arena as the noodle disguise and then come back as yourself with us and we can free all the dragons!"_

He groaned at the concept of spending more time in the arena. _"That place smells terrible, but if it gets those dragons free… I'll do it."_

" _Awesome! I'm the best at planning in the world!"_

" _You mean you're the best tactician in the world?"_ Feches-Random-Objects asked, looking up from his game of tag with his friends.

" _Exactly! I'm glad you agree with me!"_

" _Well,"_ Stealthy said, _"I bet I can adjust your plan. I stick in the village for a bit, then as many nights as I can, I go there as me and not the noodle disguise. I can fit through the bars on the top and release our friends, then let them all out of the arena at once. I'll just need you and Melts-Rocks-For-Fun to distract them all. Take out a few catapults before they're manned, Toothless can blow up the armory, which I'll mark with a red flag, and then while they're busy I can release the others."_

" _What about us?"_ Small-Biter-Very-Painful asked.

" _You can be our backup. If the Vikings see me, you can burn the bridge. If one of those two gets trapped, you can free them."_

" _Hey!"_ Friendly-Retractable-Teeth cried.

" _What?"_ Asked Small-Biter-Rams-Heads-With-Her-Brother.

" _I'm supposed to be the tactician."_ Toothless sniffed.

" _Sorry toothy, but looks like Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy takes this one. As soon as we get our warrior names, I'm sure he'll be the stealthy tactician of us. You'll be the one feared by dragons, I'll get some kind of awesome fire related name, and… the terrors already have theirs."_ Melts-Rock-For-Fun commented.

There was a pause.

" _Which, when you think about it, is really depressing."_ Stealthy replied.

" _How is that depressing?"_ Asked Small-Biter-Shoots-Sharp.

" _Well, you're younger than us, for one."_ Toothless commented.

" _Two, you've seen less actual combat than we have,"_ Melts-Rock-For-Fun added.

" _And three, we're terrors."_ Small-Biter-Rams-Heads-With-His-Sister finished. _"We get it. We're tiny and not exactly battle worthy."_

" _I'm sure you three will get your battle names after this, though."_ Small-Biter-Fetches-Random-Objects commented. _"I wonder what they'll be."_

" _Oh, oh, are we playing the guessing game?"_ Small-Biter-Very-Painful asked.

" _I guess we are."_ Small-Biter-Shoots-Sharp commented. He scowled. _"Friendly-Retractable-Teeth, I believe your battle name will be Night-Striker-Feared-By-Vikings. You… I'm not sure, would you have human in your name, Dragon-soul, or… what was it the Vikings called you again?"_

" _Forest Phantom."_ Stealthy smiled. _"It's pretty funny, especially when the fat one with thin legs and fat belly rattles off dragon facts about me to me. Listening to him is strange: "Hey Hiccup! Did you know that the Forest Phantom Dragon shoots spikes instead of fire?""_

Melts-Rock-For-Fun snickered. _"He's giving you facts about yourself?"_

" _And he doesn't even know it."_ Stealthy grinned. _"Sometimes I wonder what he'd do if I revealed that I was the forest phantom to him in the middle of one of his informative rants."_

" _I get this image of a Viking loser's jaw hitting the floor in complete astonishment and humiliation."_ Toothless replied. _"Maybe a few disgruntled squeaking noises."_

" _Alright, so we probably wouldn't say Human, and dragon-soul is an adjective for youngling names, so you'd probably get Forest-Phantom in the beginning of your name… How about Forest-Phantom-Trickster?"_

" _Nah, makes me sound too much like Rahvos the Deceiver."_ He shook his head, referring to a dragon god of deception.

" _Well, you are sort of like him."_ Small-Biter-Sneaks pitched into the conversation, somehow having gotten on top of Melts-Rock-For-Fun's head without anyone noticing. _"After all, you are tricking all of these Vikings."_

Sneaky thought for a moment, then nodded. _"You know what, it's fitting. I'll probably get something similar anyways. Not like we get to chose our warrior-names. So, what do you think Melts-Rock-For-Fun will get?"_

" _Spike-Shooter-Blessed-By-Milaas."_ He replied automatically.

" _Milaas the Great Sun Dragon?"_ Asked Melts-Rock-For-Fun.

" _You have the hottest fire of any dragon in the nest."_ Small-Biter-Fetches-Random-Objects explained. _"Possibly in the world. You burned a fireworm, after all."_

" _True! I'M AWESOME!"_ He crowed, then, with a single blast of flame, melted a rock to lava.

" _I'm going fishing. Viking food is usually gross and I promised Mother I'd eat enough."_

" _And bathe. You smell nasty; like humans."_ Toothless joked as the three that weren't terrors lifted off into the air and flew towards the ocean.

Once above the water, Toothless spotted a school of fish and blasted, stunning them. Hiccup grabbed as many as he could and put them in the leather pouch in his armor. Melts-Rock-For-Fun filled his jaws, and finally Toothless did the same.

They flew back towards the cove, this time through the trees.

Then something flew out at them.

AN AXE!

Stealthy shrieked in a style similar to a nadder and flung his wings out, shooting upwards into the canopy. Toothless and Melts-Rock-For-Fun roared loudly.

Astrid came out from behind the tree, face sheet white.

Stealthy, perched above her, snarled. She looked up and froze.

His helmet made him look exactly like a dragon. His gauntlets clutched the tree trunk, and he slowly climbed down towards her, his toed boots with claws attached aiding his descent, wings still attached to his arms.

Her axe was out of reach. His enemy was within his grasp.

Then…

"ASTRID, RUN!"

Ruffnut had come with her.

Stealthy reared back with a hiss as a spear narrowly missed his head, fleeing back into the treetops and shooting away from the two terrified teens, rejoining Friendly-Retractable-Teeth and Melts-Rock-For-Fun above the canopy.

" _Are you okay?"_ Toothless asked. _"I thought she'd killed you!"_

" _I dodged. Now let's go before they see us."_

" _THEY!?"_ Melts-Rock-For-Fun squawked.

" _I would have killed her if her friend hadn't thrown a spear at me. She got lucky."_ Stealthy snapped.

" _Next time, bud. Next time."_ Toothless commented.

They turned and flew back to the cove, eating as many of the fish as they could. With a full stomach, Stealthy turned to see it was evening. _"Oh, helheim! I have somewhere I need to be!"_

" _And it's about to storm. We're going to take shelter somewhere where we'll be dry."_ Melts-Rock-For-Fun replied. _"See you tomorrow!"_

" _Bye!"_ He took off and flew back through the trees, making sure that no one saw him this time, or that nobody was nearby throwing axes, then snuck back into his house, climbed up the stairs, discarded of his dragon armor, and dressed in his 'noodle boy' clothes, staring at himself in the mirror again before putting up the illusion and leaving for the Great Hall at a sprint so fast that if anyone saw him, they'd only se a blurr.

* * *

 **Astrid: ...I can't believe I just threw an axe at you, Hiccup. I am so sorry.**

 **Hiccup: Relax, it wasn't in cannon! Besides, even if it was I would have been fine! As you can see, you didn't exactly hit me.**

 **Ruffnut: So that means I'm forgiven too?**

 **Toothless: NO! NEITHER OF YOU ARE FORGIVEN!**

 **Hiccup: Yes they are, Toothless.**

 **Toothless: *huffs* fine.**

 **Meatlug: I got a shot at As-trid! I got a shot at As-trid!**

 **Stormfly: Stop bragging or I'll put a spike through your eyes.**

 **Meatlug: *gulps* okay!**

 **Fishlegs: NO! DON'T HURT MY MEATLUG! *hugs Meatlug* It's okay girl. I'll give you a fish later.**

 **Meatlug: *Leans into Fishlegs* aww, thanks! You're the greatest, Fish!**

 **Tuffnut: So, Ruffnut is still unforgiven, right?"**

 **Snotlout: We covered this, idiot. My princess is safe. OWW! *Rubs sore head***

 **Ruffnut: I AM NOT YOUR PRINCESS!**

 **Hookfang: FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!**

 **Black Cat: WOAH! Jesus Christ, I leave you guys alone in the same room for five minutes and _LOOK WHAT HAPPENS!_ *Sighs and rubs forehead* yeah, well, I hope all you readers enjoyed the chapter. Please follow, favorite, and review! Adios!**


	4. Chapter 4

**And I'm back once again! I hope you're all enjoying the story so far, and I will say again: You all are awesome!**

 **Anyways, onto the story!**

Chapter 4

How to Read About Your Dragon

Once he arrived, he was thoroughly soaked. The others had started without him.

Eydis belched loudly at something Dogsbreath said when he spotted her. Some teens that weren't in dragon training milled around in other areas.

Gobber was speaking. "Alright, where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?"

"She was selfish and used everyone else as cannon fodder?" Magnus suggested.

"She managed to nearly die. Always leave an escape route. That's the key of any good attack." Camacazi criticized, taking a bite of chicken.

She glowered at him. "I mistimed my summersault dive. It threw off my reverse tumble."

Everyone but Snotlout rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, we noticed." Ruffnut commented.

Hiccup noticed Fishlegs drawing something. Ruffnut stopped him. "Fishlegs, stop. It didn't have a tail."

"But don't all dragons have tails?"

"Not this one. And its wings were attached to its arms. Nope, the chest was a bit bigger."

Suddenly, Hiccup realized they were drawing _him_ to place on the Forest Phantom page, which previously hadn't had a picture.

"Oh," Astrid said, "And the teeth were smaller, looked a bit serrated."

Fishlegs accepted the criticism and changed the picture while Hiccup sat down at the unoccupied table.

"Now where did Hiccup go wrong?"

"He actually didn't." Eydis replied. "He just needs to take a bit more of an active stance."

Of course, her words were ignored.

"He showed up." Ruffnut replied.

"He didn't get eaten." Tuffnut added.

"He's never where he should be." Astrid growled.

"Actually, Eydis had the right idea." Magnus commented. Camacazi nodded in agreement. They were ignored as well, except by Gobber.

"He's right. Hiccup wasn't necessarily fighting the gronkle, but he was staying where he needed to be. What about Eydis?"

"She faltered." Astrid said, quick to criticize. "She's an archer, she should have ignored the direction of getting a shield and played to her strengths."

"True that." Eydis said. "That was just mean, Gobber."

"Dogsbreath?"

"He's brainless." Astrid replied. "He jumped in the way of a shot."

"HEY!"

"Where did Camacazi go wrong?"

"I didn't see her attacking much." Astrid criticized.

"I didn't see you attacking that much either." She shrugged. "In fact, I don't think anyone landed a single blow. Well, except the dragon."

"And that just about covers it." Gobber commented. "You done yet, Fishlegs?"

"Mhm!" He handed over the book, and Gobber looked at it, blinking.

"Impressive. Smaller than I thought, but impressive looking. Too bad Astrid didn't see it when she was throwing, or she might've killed it."

Hiccup's blood boiled. That was _him_ they were talking about killing.

He closed the book and slapped it on the table. "You need to live and breathe this stuff. The dragon manual: everything we know about every dragon we know of." Thunder roared outside. "Study up," He left the room.

"What, you mean read?" Tuffnut asked.

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut exclaimed.

"What, you think you can read it while you're dead?" Eydis asked. "I'd love to stay, but I promised my parents I'd patch a hole in the roof and I didn't do it, so my parent's room is probably flooding right about now, so see ya!" She jogged away.

"Why read words when you can kill the stuff words tell you about?" Snotlout asked.

"I can't read anyways." Dogsbreath said, stuffing his face with burnt fish. Hiccup grimaced and poked his again.

"Oh, I've read it, like, seven times! There's this water dragon that spits boiling water at your face! And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week…"

The teens stared at him. Mentally, Hiccup had already categorized them: _Sea Boilers, Sand Furies._

"Yeah, there was a chance I was goanna read that…" Tuffnut started.

"But, now…" Ruff trailed off.

"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout replied.

The others, with the exception of Astrid, Magnus, and Camacazi left.

"I guess we're sharing?" Magnus asked glancing up at Hiccup, who moved over. Astrid glared. "Read it." She walked off.

Camacazi scoffed. "Oh, _now_ she's read it. Hey, check it out. Here's the Forest Phantom."

Hiccup gazed at his own picture for a moment. He truly looked like a savage beast, the scaly armor on, his teeth (magically modified to be like dragon teeth) bared, his scaly mask painting his furious face perfectly. His wings were flared aggressively, and he was in a vertical crouch, one clawed paw-like hand reaching to climb down the drawn tree trunk.

Magnus read the words aloud. "The Forest Phantom. This reclusive dragon rarely shows itself, living in the forest where it is perfectly camouflaged and only venturing out to catch fish. Instead of breathing fire, the Forest Phantom shoots poisonous spikes at its victims, leaving them paralyzed, sometimes permanently. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

It was all Hiccup could do not to swell up with pride. Instead, he continued to mock interest. It would be fun, he decided, to figure out what it had to say about nadders and Night Furies, or to see if it had anything on the Red Death (which was highly unlikely).

Camacazi flicked the page. "Tunderdrum." She read. "This dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely Dangerous, kill on sight."

They turn to the next page. Hiccup reads this one. "Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through fully grown trees… extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

"Anyone else seeing a pattern here?" Magnus asked, taking the book. "Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at its victims. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

Hiccup took his turn early. "Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight." Disgust took hold of him. Kill _hatchlings_?

"Kill their babies? Isn't that a bit harsh?" Magnus spoke up.

Camacazi snatched the book with an exasperated growl. "Does it say that for all of them?" She started flipping through. "Gronkle, Zippleback, the Skrill." To all three, it began to appear as though the images were moving on the page. "Boneknapper. Whispering death. Burns its victims, buries its victims, chokes its victims, turns its victims inside out…" They gagged at that one. Okay, Hiccup could understand why _that one_ was labeled 'Kill on Sight'.

Hiccup finished searching. "Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight…"

"Hold on, this one's different." Magnus stopped him. They looked down at the page.

"Night Fury." Camacazi read out loud. There was no image on the page. Hiccup was tempted to put one there, but refrained. "Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself." Hiccup almost choked forcing back laughter, a picture of his best friend with a huge, dopey, toothless grin popped up in his mind. "Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you." She finished.

Hiccup nearly had to stuff the now cold burnt fish in his mouth to stop himself from howling in laughter. His lips twitched slightly all the same, and he had to use magic to hide the huge smile that spread across his face.

"Wow." Magnus commented. "How are we supposed to learn anything about dragons if we always 'kill them on sight'?"

Hiccup blinked at him, surprised. Camacazi shrugged. "I don't think we are. It's not exactly 'the Viking way' to learn anything about the things we kill. This book isn't even very helpful in that regard. It could at least provide us with weaknesses and some strategies to deal with one should we meet one, or how to deal with a confrontation when one is unarmed."

"And think about it." He said, "There's got to be a reason they're raiding us. I mean, they always take food, and food only. If we figure out the problem, we'd be that much closer to an end to the war, right?"

"As a matter of fact…" Camacazi said slowly.

"I never thought of that." Hiccup lied. "If we learned more about dragons, we could be able to tell normal behavior from abnormal behavior, and maybe figure out what's wrong."

"Maybe…" Camacazi paused. "That dragon, the Forest Phantom, Astrid or Ruffnut. Sure it looked pissed, by the looks of that picture, but who wouldn't be if an axe nearly hit them? And earlier, with the fishermen, it only took ten fish, and it easily could have slaughtered them in the fog. Yet, it didn't. It actually acted a bit like a Bog Burglar."

"I have an idea!" Magnus said.

"And your idea would be?" Hiccup asked slowly.

"We could try following a local dragon to its den and watching it, see how it behaves when we're not trying to kill each other. Maybe gain some insight on them." Magnus was excited now.

Camacazi grinned. "Sounds like fun! I sneak up on dragons all the time, and they never even realize I'm there! It could be interesting!"

Hiccup as shocked to the core, but a grin spread across his face. "It's actually a great idea. Mind if I come with?"

Camacazi grinned. "On one condition."

Hiccup read the look in her eye. "Seriously Camacazi? Why?"

She grinned. "C'mon."

"What're you talking about?" Magnus asked.

Since the rest of the Great Hall was empty, Camacazi could reveal it. "Tell him. He'll be curious forever if you don't."

Hiccup sighed. "Okay, okay. You have to promise to _never_ tell _anyone_ about this."

Magnus nodded. _"_ Is it bad?"

"No." Camacazi replied. "Well, depends on how you look at it."

"This will never leave this room, right?" Hiccup asked.

Magnus and Camacazi nodded.

"Alright."

He went behind a pillar for a moment, then let most of the magic vanish. He kept the sharp teeth a secret though.

"What's he doing?"

"Tehehe…"

After a moment, he came back out and Magnus gaped. "You… You're not a noodle!"

"Well, I'm off to bed." Hiccup stood and walked away.

"See you in the morning." Camacazi called after him.

"Hold on a minute…" Magnus gaped.

Hiccup ran off silently towards his house.

Hiccup closed the door to his house and dropped the final touches of his illusion, yawning.

Without further ado, he went to his room, made a makeshift nest on his floor with the blankets and pillow on his bed, and dozed off.

* * *

 **Hiccup: I just realized something.**

 **Astrid: What?**

 **Hiccup: Since the movie was made _after_ the books, wouldn't the books be cannonverse?**

 **Astrid: Why do you ask? Wait, there were books?**

 **Snotlout: Yeah, duh. You should know that.**

 **Dogsbreath: Wait, was she even in them?**

 **Ruffnut: I never knew there were _books_.**

 **Tuffnut: You and Astrid weren't in them, Ruff.**

 **Rufnut: *Gasps Dramatically* How _could_ they!?**

 **Camacazi: Yeah, Astrid, Ruffnut, you weren't in the books, just like they decided to get rid of me, thuggory, and a bunch of the guys from the books in the movies. Talk about rude. You guys are just DreamWorks' OCs.**

 **Hiccup: And Toothless was a lazy fat-cat of a dragon.**

 **Toothless: I was a _baby sea dragonus giganticus maximus_ mind you!**

 **Astrid: What about Stormfly?**

 **Camacazi: My terrible liar of a mood dragon with the ability to speak norse.**

 **Astrid:...**

 **Stormfly(reverts to bookverse form): Hello there. I hate chicken, by the way *turns purple***

 **Camacazi: See what I mean? She always turns purple when she lies.**

 **Meatlug: I don't remember there being any books.**

 **Fishlegs: I'm sorry, sweetie, you weren't in them.**

 **Hiccup: Fishlegs was a scrawny abandoned berserker then. His dragon was Horrorcow, a cowardly vegetarian basic brown**

 **Meatlug: Oh.**

 **Black Cat: Yeah, they changed a _lot_ when they made the movies. The books were quite a bit darker. Hey Snotlout, remember when you died?**

 **Snotlout: *shudders* please don't remind me.**

 **Astrid: That sounds like a dream come true!**

 **Hiccup: Actually, that was when he decided he'd be a good person.**

 **Astrid: ... oh.**

 **Black Cat: Anyways, sorry if I just spoiled the books for all you readers! Anyways, that's all folks!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I will say it again: Thank you for all you awesome readers. You are awesome. I honestly didn't think so many of you would read my story, and it's great to see I've written a good one for my first try at posting one.**

 **Anyways, I hope you readers are up for more now, because here is the next chapter!**

Chapter 5

How to Change a Viking's Mind

Hiccup's sleep was disturbed by someone calling his name. He groaned and sat up, hair sticking at odd angles.

Someone was knocking on the front door. He quickly got dressed and ran to open it.

"What, did you sleep on the floor or something?" Asked Magnus.

"No." Hiccup lied.

"Then you should cut the mane. Anyways, Gobber moved up training today and asked Ruff and Tuff to wake everybody up. Just be glad I got here before they did."

Hiccup shuddered. "Yeah, thanks for the heads up. See you at training." He closed the door.

Four minutes later, he was holding his axe at arm's length again. _"Okay, axe, same deal."_ He walked out the door, nearly forgetting the noodle disguise as he did so.

In the arena, the trio joined up. It was an odd trio, to be sure. The warrior, the runt with an axe, and the thief. Hiccup was just happy he finally had some human friends on Berk… and that they were the reasonable Vikings.

The other teens were staring at them as if they'd turned into a three headed zippleback. Hiccup checked to make sure his illusion was still up.

Thankfully, it was.

The arena was transformed into a labyrinth that day. Gobber was by one of the cages.

There was a thunk as one of them opened, and Flies-Through-Storms squawked loudly.

Gobber climbed out of the arena. "Spread out! Today is all about attack!"

Hiccup spotter Flies-Through-Storms hopping from wall to wall, and was tempted to climb it with her. He refrained, racing after Camacazi and Mgnus.

"Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter."

Hiccup and Camacazi went into stealth mode. Magnus actually had to look around for a moment once before he spotted them, blinking in surprise. "You're surprisingly good at this."

Of course, this gave their position away, and Flies-Through-Storms poked her head over the wall. _"HAHA! Found you!"_ She blasted fire at them.

" _Flies-Through-Storms! Enough with the burning!"_ Hiccup hissed, making it discreet so the teens didn't know it was him. Astrid and Snotlout rounded the corner, and Flies-Through-Storms locked onto them.

She cackled at him and turned, chasing after Astrid. _"Yeah! That's right, yellow head! Keep on running!"_

Hiccup snickered at Astrid's bad fortune. Flies-Through-Storms leapt down into the maze.

He picked up the sounds of Ruffnut and Tuffnut arguing. "Do you ever bathe?"

"If you don't like it, you can get your own blind spot."

"How 'bout I give you one!"

" _IDIOTS!"_ The sounds of blasting fire and screaming could be heard, as well as maniacal laughter.

"Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot, not so much." Gobber drawled.

"Hiccup!" Camacazi whispered quietly.

He moved over next to her and Magnus, and he could hear his cousin sniffing around.

Camacazi rolled forwards, closing the gap. Magnus followed suit.

Hiccup curled up so the shield covered him, hearing Flies-Through-Storms look up, and rolled out like a coin.

There was a pause.

"… _Okay…"_

She went back to sniffing.

The three of them snuck away.

Then a girly shriek rose and Stormfly squawked in victory. _"Found you, fatso!"_

" _Ru-ude."_ Hiccup sing-songed under his breath.

"What was that?" Magnus asked.

"Nothing." Hiccup replied.

" _I HEARD THAT CUZ!"_

"Uh, what was _that_?" Snotlout whimpered.

BAM! The walls started toppling. Flies-Through-Storms rounded the corner, shrieking. _"PREPARE TO DIE!"_

She was joking, of course, but Hiccup still didn't want to be hung from the top of the arena by his underwear. He, Camacazi, and Magnus bolted.

Hiccup raced up one of the falling walls, leaping to the next one and running. _"Take it back, Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy!"_

Hiccup leapt to the next wall and kept running.

Astrid yelled and flung her axe. Flies-Through-Storms stopped running, and it flew out of the arena pathetically. "…Oh Thor."

Flies-Through-Storms squawked. _"Oh, it is so on."_ She charged at Astrid, who bolted.

Hiccup sat on top of the wall and watched the spectacle. There wasn't much more he could do.

Astrid wound up also on top of the maze, and soon his wall was the only one standing. Astrid leapt onto it, and Eydis took this opportunity to strike, firing an arrow at… a piece of wood.

Coincidentally, it fell, knocking the wall over, and sending all three occupants of the wall to the floor… Astrid on top of Hiccup, her axe embedded into his shield.

He practically flung her off him, shield in tow. She then smashed the axe (and shield) into Flies-Through-Storm's face. Hiccup winced, unseen by the other teens.

" _Oww! Fine! I see how it is."_ She limped back into her cage and Gobber closed the door behind her.

"Class dismissed!" Gobber called.

Hiccup, having dropped his axe in the wreckage, didn't even bother to look for it.

"Nice shot Eydis!" Dogsbreath complimented.

"It was all my lightning reflexes and cracker-jack timing!" She chirped back.

"What's a cracker-jack?" Asked Snotlout.

"That is a good question." Tuffnut replied.

Hiccup left the arena and jogged into the woods stealthily, then got to the cove.

" _Noodle boy!"_ Toothless cried.

Hiccup dropped the disguise. _"Look, two Viking teens are actually interested in figuring out why the dragons raid us. Their names are Camacazi and Magnus. I said I'd go with them to watch some local dragons and see what they act like when we're not fighting one another. Melts-Rock-For-Fun, would you mind being that dragon?"_

" _No problem!"_ He chirped, _"As long as I can melt rocks for fun, and someone goes with me."_

" _I'll go!"_ Small-Biter-Sneaky called.

 _Perfect! Just hang around in the forest near the village."_

They flew off, and Hiccup left the cove, taking a roundabout route back to the village, and put the noodle disguise back on, meeting the other two teens.

"There you are!" Magnus called. "We were about to leave without you."

Hiccup grinned and revealed his dagger. "I couldn't go out without _some_ kind of weapon, could I? Let's go."

The trio moved into the woods. Once there, Hiccup went ahead and dropped the Noodle disguise when they weren't looking.

They walked through the woods for a while, looking for tracks.

"I don't get it." Magnus said, "Where's the dragons?"

A squawk sounded, and they hid in a bush, peering slowly out.

There was Melts-Rock-For-Fun, eating fish. _"Umm. Num. Gotta love cod."_

Small-Biter-Sneaky suddenly appeared on his head and squawked.

" _GYAHHH! Don't do that!"_ He reared back. The small-biter leapt off, laughing, and snatched a cod.

" _I'm not Small-Biter-Sneaky for nothing. By the way, they're here. Good cod, by the way."_

" _Yeah, it is, isn't it?"_

Suddenly, _Toothless_ bounded out of the trees, toung lolling out and tail wagging, teeth retracted. _"Did someone say cod?"_

The three teens all tried desperately to contain their laughter.

Melts-Rock-For-Fun puffed up self importantly and protectively curled his tail around the pile. _"Yeah… My cod."_

" _But… but…"_ Toothless started pouting.

" _No. My cod."_

He made the eyes.

It was adorable.

Melts-Rock-For-Fun groaned in defeat. _"You're so mean."_ He pushed half of the pile to the greedy dragon, who bounced around in a circle and licked Melts-Rock-For-Fun in the face. _"Thank you!"_

The cod were inhaled.

The rest of the time spent observing the dragons revealed the location of the cove, a lot of sunbathing, playing, and racing.

After they returned, they were silent.

Then Camacazi looked up at them. "They didn't look that dangerous to me."

Then she walked away. Magnus nodded, deep in thought. "See you… tomorrow."

Hiccup grinned at their backs. Then he frowned, sensing something he'd never actually noticed before.

"No way…"

As she left, he could feel something in her he'd never sensed before.

The soul of a dragon.

She was a dragon soul this whole time, and he'd never known because he'd never thought to try and search for one.

Hiccup donned his dragon armor and left the house, flying back to the cove. _"Guys! We need to talk, now!"_

Toothless looked up. _"Did we do something wrong?"_

" _No. It's Camacazi. She has a dragon soul."_

To say that their jaws dropped was an understatement.

" _Are you sure?"_ Toothless asked.

" _Yes."_ Stealthy replied.

" _Should we do something?"_

" _No."_ Stealthy replied, _"It would be too soon. She just now realized that dragons aren't what they think we are. I think she needs to befriend a dragon, get used to that specific dragon… Maybe a Terror to start with."_

" _Like Small-Biter-Sneaky?"_ Toothless frowned, then nodded. _"Yep. They're a perfect match. If they can be friends…"_

" _We should also find a dragon for Magnus to befriend. He's not exactly a Small-biter type… Or a Night Striker, or boulder-tail, or Flame-Skin, or Zippleback, or a Spike-shooter… hmm…what about a Mood Dragon?"_

" _From what I've heard about this guy from my time hiding around the village, that sounds like a good idea."_ Sneaky commented. _"Melts-Rock-For-Fun and I can go to the nest and get one of them willing enough to try it to come here. I think we should try a changewing, too. While I like Camacazi, I couldn't take her around flying."_

" _Alright, then it's a plan. Did you save me any salmon?"_ Stealthy asked.

Toothless moved his wing to reveal a small pile. _"All yours, Stealthy!"_

" _WOOHOOO!"_ He immediately gulped one down, picking up the others to take home and putting them in his pouch. _"You're the best, guys!"_

" _Yes, yes we are."_ Toothless bragged.

Stealthy swatted him playfully. _"Don't let it get to your head, you overgrown cat lizard."_

He took off, ignoring the indignant cry from his friend.

Upon returning home, he stashed the fish and his armor and headed up to the watchtower, a small fish with him to burn. He always regretted doing it.

He arrived on time.

Camacazi and Magnus were deep in thought. Hiccup was, too, but for completely different reasons.

"And with one twist he took my hand and swallowed it whole. I saw the look on his face: I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg."

Hiccup knew the dragons who did that. One had bitten off Gobber's hand as an experiment, found it was disgusting, and told his friend it tasted good.

Of course, both wound up with indigestion for weeks, according to his mother.

"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside of a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing its heart or something."

Everyone grimaced at that statement.

Snotlout turned his grimace into a growl. "I swear I'm so angry right now. I'll avenge your beautiful hand _and_ your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face." He puffed up, posturing for Astrid, who looked ready to puke.

"Good luck with that, Snotty." Eydis chirped. "When you're twenty and toothless, I'll make sure to mock you about it."

"Uh-uh. It's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead one."

"But what about the Forest Phantom?" Asked Fishlegs.

"Yeah, it didn't have a tail at all." Ruffnut commented.

"I'd assume it uses its legs to steer its flight instead." Gobber shrugged. "So in that case, you can go for the legs."

Hiccup choked back a cry of protest. Those were _his_ legs they were talking about chopping off!

"Alright, I'm off to bed." Gobber commented. "You should be too. Tomorrow, we get into the big boys. Slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare."

Hiccup, Camacazi, and Magnus grimaced. The others, not noticing this, grinned excitedly.

"It's goanna be my destiny, see?" Tuffnut showed the teens (Minus the trio, who were already leaving) his left arm.

Fishlegs gasped. "Your mom let you get a tattoo?"

"I bet she didn't." Eydis sang. "That's why he waited until she was gone!"

"It's not a tattoo, it's a birthmark."

"Okay," Ruffnut said, "I've been with you since birth, and that was never there before."

"Yes it was. You just haven't seen me from the left side before."

"That wasn't there yesterday. Was that a birth-mark or a today mark?" Snotlout asked.

The trio returned to their homes, with the exception of Hiccup, who darted after Camacazi.

"Cami!"

"What's up?" She asked.

"Well, I was thinking about what we saw…"

"Yeah… So have Magnus and I. It's strange. I feel like we're diving into one of those old wives tales about why people shouldn't interact with dragons, except backwards."

"And I was wondering; those dragons seem happy enough, so why raid us?"

She shrugged. "Seeing as they eat mainly fish and not actual chickens and sheep, they don't seem to have a reason."

"Maybe if we went a bit further, we could find out."

She grinned. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"Try to befriend a dragon? Yes." He responded.

"I like where this is going. Bring it!" She grinned. "So, how were you thinking about doing that?"

"Gain its trust." He replied. "Then figure out what they like to do, just like befriending a person."

"Well," She paused for a moment, "It's worth a shot. We probably shouldn't try the arena dragons, seeing as they're used to hostility towards humans, though."

"Any species you like in particular?" Hiccup asked.

"I thought that was obvious. Changewing." She decided.

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, the does sound like you. Want to get Magnus in on it?"

She nodded. "I'll go get him, but where could we find a Changewing?"

"We could look on the book of dragons."

She nodded. "I'll go steal it from Gobber if you go get Magnus to help."

"On it." They grinned and split up.

* * *

 **Camacazi: Yes! I can't wait to get a changewing! They're the stealthiest dragons of all time!**

 **Astrid: Why haven't I become a major character yet?**

 **Hiccup: Uh... *flips through character list* I think you're a side character in this one.**

 **Astrid: Hah. Good joke.**

 **Hiccup: *sweat drops* yeah... you got me...**

 **Fishlegs: Ooh, are you going to go to Changewing Island?**

 **Toothless: How would they do that without first befriending other dragons to take them there without taking a few days?**

 **Fishlegs: Good point... but aren't changewings not trainable?**

 **Sneaky the terror: They're just like any other dragon out there.**

 **Everyone: *stares***

 **Astrid: Since when did the Terrors get to come here?**

 **Sneaky: I snuck in.**

 **Hiccup: Oh. Well then, shouldn't Black Cat have come here yet?**

 **Snotlout: She said her neighbor was having a garage sale or something and that she wasn't coming.**

 **Sneaky: Which is why she asked me to sneak in and say this for her. I hope all of the readers of this marvelous story all enjoyed the chapter!**

 **Hiccup: Marvelous? Is she becoming a narcissist or something?**

 **Sneaky: Nah. This is just the first story I've become an important character in, so I like it. Anyways, See ya!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

How to Train Your Vikings

When he arrived in the cove, Toothless and Melts-Rock-For-Fun were waiting with a Mood-Dragon and a changewing. He was young, about the same age as them.

" _Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy!"_ Toothless called. _"I take it you've set the plan into motion?"_

" _Yep, I need you,"_

" _I'm Fire-Spot-Curious."_ He motioned towards a bright orange spot on his head, contrasting his current yellow.

" _Can I shorten your name to fire spot?"_

" _Sure!"_

" _Great! And you…"_

" _Steals-A-Lot."_ The strangely dark purple changewing replied.

" _To…"_ Hiccup was interrupted.

" _How does this work?"_ Asked Fire Spot.

" _Well, we're trying to show two Vikings that dragons aren't what they think we are. We're starting small. Yesterday, we let them watch those guys for a couple hours, and it confused them. If we can eventually work up enough trust to allow one of them, a dragon-souled, to communicate with us, we can show them the Red Death, the reason we're raiding the Vikings, and work for a solution."_

" _Cool! So which one do I get?"_

" _You get the male."_ Hiccup replied. _"His name is_ Magnus. _"_

" _Which one do I get?"_ Steals-a-lot asked.

" _A female Bog Burglar called_ Camacazi."

" _Cool! So where are we going?"_ Asked Steals-a-lot.

" _You two and Toothless need to go to the edge of the forest and wait. Three Vikings, one of which will be me, will go into the forest. You two will reveal yourselves and you'll befriend the two Vikings with me."_

He nodded. _"Sounds good enough. Let's go!"_

" _So does mine like to steal stuff? I could use a partner in crime."_ Steals-a-lot questioned.

Stealthy's response: _"She is the heir to the Bog Burglar tribe. She is the single best thief in an entire island of thieves."_

" _YES!"_

They flew away. Hiccup also took to the skies, flying back to Berk.

He snuck back into the house, discarded his armor, and put the noodle disguise back on. He spotted that Snotlout, yawning, was going into his house.

He checked the other houses, spotting Camacazi and Magnus doing the same.

"They're all asleep. Let's go." Magnus whispered.

They slipped into the woods silently, nobody noticing they left but one watchful blonde, who crept behind them silently.

Hiccup smelled Toothless and Firespot nearby, and he could tell that Steals-a-lot was in the area even though he couldn't catch her scent.

"Okay," Magnus whispered, "So did you grab the book of Dragons, Camacazi?"

She nodded. "What kind of an idiot do you take me for? Of course I snagged it." She flipped it open and said, "Alright. So, we're looking for a changewing first." She flipped to the mystery section and to the Changewing page. "Alright, its habitat is forest; perfect for what we have here." She decided. "They lay colorful eggs in small nests high up in treetops, and they're highly territorial. That means if one _is_ on Berk, it's not near the village or that cove we saw those other dragons at yesterday."

Hiccup nodded and pulled out a map of the island. "I'd say the only place we could find it is on a place I haven't been to yet." He pointed at a place on his map. It was a place he actually _had_ been to before, but was far enough away that it was realistic. "I've seen it from a distance. Really tall trees, by the looks of it. If we want to find a changewing, we should go there."

They walked off, and Hiccup faintly heard the sound of flapping wings.

Their blonde pursuer had stayed far enough behind and downwind of them so that she was undetected. Sad part was, she wasn't even trying to stay downwind. It was just a bad angle.

She scowled. A changewing? She could understand why Camacazi would want to kill a changewing; legend has it that cloaks made of changewing scales could make one invisible, but she couldn't understand why Hiccup and Magnus would go along.

She shook her head. She could understand why _Hiccup_ would go. He spent a lot of time off on his own in the woods, and everyone knew it. He probably knew the area like the back of his hand. Magnus… You know what, he was stronger than both of them combined. He was probably there to hit things if necessary.

But something seemed fishy about it. If they'd come across a cove filled with dragons, like they'd said they did, why didn't they tell anyone about it?

So she continued to stalk them.

Hiccup was bothered. He felt like they were being watched.

"What's wrong?" Asked Magnus.

He shrugged. "I don't know… I feel like we're being watched." He reported.

The group stopped and looked around.

It was probably Steals-A-Lot, he reasoned.

A rustling noise was heard. They turned to see the faint outline of an almost invisible tail merge with the tree.

"Magnus…" Camacazi whispered.

Magnus took the basket of fish off of his back and handed it to Camacazi.

The girl opened it and Hiccup and Magnus moved back, unknowingly stumping their pursuer. If they were fighting a changewing, shouldn't Magnus have come out?

She nearly died when Camacazi pulled out a fish. "Hey there. You know I can see you, right?"

The changewing revealed itself; a dark purple with yellow eyes.

Hiccup smiled at Steals-A-Lot as she sniffed the fish. _"You brought food? Ah, how sweet!"_

"Here." Camacazi tossed the fish. The dragon's head snapped up and caught it, then she moved towards Camacazi, sniffing.

Camacazi tossed another fish from the basket and smiled. "Hey there. Yeah, you're just hungry, right?"

" _Mmm. This is good fish. Where did you get it?"_ Steals-A-Lot asked. She sniffed Camacazi for more.

Astrid gaped as soon, Camacazi had the dragon literally eating out of her hand and even nuzzling her for more. Her mind produced one word: TRAITORS!

She had to get back to Berk and tell the others.

No, the others wouldn't believe her. She needed proof.

She needed someone else to see this.

So she snuck away while she still could.

Camacazi was scratching Steals-A-Lot's head now. "Hey there, girl! You're a girl, right?" The dragon nodded. She and Magnus gaped. "You can understand me?"

She nodded and purred, rubbing her hand. _"You know what, I think this could be interesting."_ Then she tossed Camacazi onto her back and took off. _"Later!"_

Camacazi's shocked cries turned into delighted cheers as they flew through the air. Hiccup grinned.

Magnus gaped. "No way…" Then he looked at the basket. "…And she took all the fish."

Hiccup laughed. "They'll be menaces now. Camacazi and a dragon that can turn invisible." He opened the book of dragons, which Camacazi had handed to him earlier. "In the meantime, we should find other dragons to try and befriend."

They flipped through the pages. "So, I was thinking…" POOF.

They turned around to see Firespot standing behind them, curious.

Magnus gaped and Hiccup slid back a bit. Firespot sniffed at Magnus. _"Huh."_ His scales turned purple with flecks of yellow.

"What does that mean?" Magnus asked.

Hiccup shrugged. "Probably that he likes you."

" _Hello Magnus. This is Magnus, right?"_

Hiccup nodded slightly.

" _Good. Alright then, no need for fish…"_

" _NOODLE BOY!"_

Hiccup gave a startled cry as Toothless leapt out of nowhere, tackled him, and gave him a big, slobbery lick across the face.

Magnus gaped in shock. Fire spot started laughing.

Magnus then just smiled and turned to his own dragon. "I think I'll call you Firespot."

Question Marks suddenly flew up over every dragon (and Hiccup's) heads and they stopped what they were doing to look at him.

"What?" Asked Magnus.

"Nothing." Hiccup replied.

" _Hit the nail on the head with that one."_ Toothless commented.

" _That's almost too good to be true… are you sure he's not a Dragon Soul?"_ Asked Firespot as Camacazi and Steals-A-Lot resumed flying.

"You mind if I fly on you?" Magnus asked.

" _Not at all."_ Firespot lowered himself to let Magnus on, and he joined them in the sky with Camacazi.

Hiccup dropped the noodle disguise. _"They already know it's a disguise."_ Hiccup told Toothless. The dragon grinned.

" _Great! Want a ride?"_

" _Aren't I a bit old for that?"_ Asked Hiccup.

" _Then where's your armor, huh? We're going up."_ Toothless stuck his head between Hiccup's legs, forcing him to sit on his back, then took off.

Toothless took to the air right beside Firespot and Steals-A-Lot.

Camacazi grinned. "I bet you can't beat me and Moonshadow to the top of the mountain!" She cheered.

" _Hehe… Go easy on me Toothless."_ Moonshadow flew as fast as she could. Firespot shot off.

Toothless whipped past them at a blinding speed, shot up to the top of the mountain, and landed perfectly on the peak.

The other two dragons caught up after a while.

"Is that a _NIGHT FURY_?" Camacazi gaped.

Toothless frowned. _"What?"_

" _Blows up towers…"_ Hiccup whispers.

" _Oh!"_ He nodded and grinned his signature toothless grin, toung lolling out.

"…You've got to be joking. This is the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself?" Asked Magnus.

There was a pause, then…

" _HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_ Toothless nearly died of humiliation as, after he puffed up in pride, the other two dragons nearly fell out of the sky laughing and the Vikings and dragon in disguise snickered.

Toothless smacked him with an ear flap. "Ow! Okay, fine, sorry Toothless."

As soon as the others got over their laughter, they grinned.

Then Magnus yawned. The group glanced at him and then up at the moon, realizing what time it was.

"We should probably head back. We have to get up early tomorrow." Hiccup decided.

The dragons flew to the outskirts of the village and two nuzzled their riders while one just chattered away at the other. _"So I was thinking you could bring me cod tomorrow as a show of appreciation. You know, since I gave you a piggyback ride and you thanked me by laughing at me and all."_

The other two walked away. _"That was forced. Oh, and I was thinking you could bring me salmon tomorrow to make up for you slapping me in the face for something that was clearly hilarious."_

Then he jogged away while Toothless huffed. _"Fine. I see how it is."_

Hiccup coiled up in the makeshift nest on the floor, happy again that night.

They were getting there. Slowly, but surely, they were getting there.

* * *

 **Camacazi: I got a changewing! Yay!**

 **Magnus: And I got a mood dragon...hey, wasn't the original Stormfly your dragon and a mood dragon?**

 **Camacazi: This is hardly cannon, Magnus.**

 **Firespot: I can't believe how accurate your name was for me.**

 **Magnus: Looking at it now, it's pretty close.**

 **Moonshadow: But what about me? My name's actually Steals-A-Lot.**

 **Camacazi: Fine. Your nickname can be Bandit.**

 **Moonshadow: Yay!**

 **Black Cat: Alright. So, as you readers can see, things are finally moving along in the world of Vikings! Who will be next? What will happen? Keep reading to find out!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

How to Reveal a Dragon's Plan

Hiccup was awoken later to the sounds of gasps.

He blinked open his eyes, remembering he was wearing his dragon armor that was magicked to make him look like a real dragon. He spotted Camacazi and Magnus staring at him.

"That's the Forest Phantom." Magnus gaped.

" _Okay, everybody, pretend I'm not Hiccup. No Hiccup references whatsoever."_ He grumbled, then locked eyes with them, growling.

" _Right, so we're pretending you're a wild dragon who has never met these two…"_ Toothless decided.

Moonshadow and Firespot leapt in front of them, squawking and growling.

Stealthy growled exasperatedly. _"Fine, you can stop now. I'm going back to sleep, up there."_ He took off and flew onto a ledge, curling up and going back to sleep.

Then… _"PAIN!"_ He shrieked; flinging himself into the air as said terrible terror latched onto his leg. He landed in the water.

Beating his wings, he shot out of it and landed on all fours, Pain sauntering off. _"Nope. You have to be social."_

Camacazi and Magnus were laughing.

Camacazi breathed out, no longer laughing. "He looks smaller in person than he did on the book."

Hiccup huffed, puffing out his chest. _"Yeah yeah…"_

" _That's why you're_ _ **Small**_ _-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy."_ Toothless replied.

"His chest is also smaller…"

"Maybe it's a different Forest Phantom?"

"Mabe…"

Hiccup flew up and over the water, then plunged like a seabird. He grabbed three salmon, paralyzing them, and put them in his pouch before he flew back up and out of the water.

"What? Now he looks…" He poured the fish from his pouch.

"Oh."

"Fishlegs would have a field day with this guy."

"Where's Hiccup?"

"Probably still asleep."

Hiccup swallowed a salmon.

Pain and Sneaky stole the other two before he could take them. He gave an outraged squawk.

"He _does_ sound like a Nadder."

Hiccup turned and looked at them for a moment, then took off and flew into the woods, weaving between the trees, and then circling the forest once, something he'd forgotten to do since returning from the nest: a patrol of his territory.

Seeing as no dragons he didn't want in the area were there, he returned to the cove, watching their interactions.

Magnus, who had been hauling a basket of fish, dumped it out.

Hiccup glided down and waited for the terrors to take fish so he could steal them.

"Some Salmon…" They were inhaled by Melts-Rock-For-Fun, "Some perch," Moonshadow ate those, "Some nice Icelandic Cod," Toothless slurped them down without sharing, "And a whole smoked eel."

" _EEL!?"_ They shrieked and leapt back, hissing and snarling. Camacazi lifted it and Hiccup launched a spike from his gauntlet at it, spearing it and sending it into a dark, secluded part of the cove that no one visited, where the other dragons burned it to nothing (and melted the ground it had been on).

After pushing a boulder onto that spot, they returned happily.

The humans stared at them in shock.

"Okay then… no more eel."

The dragons finished eating the fish. Camacazi and Magnus got on Firespot and Moonshadow, and they took off. _"We'll be back!"_

" _Ugh, eels."_ Toothless shuddered.

" _Tell me about it."_ Melts-Rock-For-Fun added.

" _I'm going to fly around the forest for a bit. See you."_ Hiccup took flight, and Toothless took off. _"I'll join those guys."_

" _We'll be lazy!"_ The terrors shouted.

" _I'm going to go with Toothless!"_ Melts-Rock-For-Fun flew off.

It was then that Hiccup felt the all-too familiar pull of the queen.

He lifted out of the trees with a hiss, plunging and taking as many fish as he could fit in his pouch from the ocean. He spotted the others doing the same, pulled uncontrollably towards the queen.

"Woah, girl, what's wrong?" Camacazi asked.

"Firespot, what's happening?"

Hiccup whined as he flew beside them. _"Now? This is too soon!"_

" _I know, Stealthy, it is, but we have to."_ Toothless groaned.

They flew into the fog.

"This is Helheim's gate!" Magnus gasped. "They're taking us to the nest!"

"Yes! We get to be the first Vikings to see it!" Camacazi cheered.

We were soon surrounded by the other returning dragons.

"What's going on?" Asked Magnus nervously.

"It looks like they're hauling in their kill. Too bad Hiccup couldn't be here to see this."

Stealthy turned and rolled his eyes. _"Oh, they have no idea."_

"So if they're hauling in their kill, what does that make us exactly?"

Firespot crooned comfortingly. _"Don't worry Magnus, we'll protect you."_

The group flew past sea stacks and to a volcano, plunging into the nest.

"Woah…"

"What the chief wouldn't give to find this." Magnus gasped.

Hiccup dumped his fish into the depths, and Moonshadow followed with her Tuna. They flew to the ledge where Spike-Shooter-Blue-Flies-Fast resided, landing.

"They're not eating any of it." Camacazi commented.

" _Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy, what is the meaning of this?"_ Asked Spike-Shooter-Blue-Flies-Fast.

" _They questioned the Viking ways."_ Hiccup replied. _"And one of them is dragon-souled. We thought that maybe we could start to bring an end to the war by changing their minds… We were out flying when the Queen controlled us."_

" _Do they know about you?"_ She asked.

" _No."_

" _Tell them."_

" _What?"_

" _I said, tell them."_ She said sternly. _"They need to know everything."_

Hiccup sighed and glanced at them.

"What's that smell?"

"The Red Death."

They froze and turned around, eyes huge.

"Hiccup?" They scanned the area for him.

Hiccup stood to his full height, detached the wings, and took off his helmet.

They fainted.

" _That went well."_ Moonshadow grumbled.

Hiccup sat down cross-legged and waited for them to wake up.

When they did, there was a long staring contest.

"You knew, the whole time." Magnus said. "You knew we were wrong about them." Hiccup nodded.

"Start from the beginning." Camacazi grined. "How'd you find out?"

"Well, I was six." He began. "Snotlout had gotten his hands on his dad's hunting knife. He attacked me with it… I wasn't exactly strong then. He left me in the woods. He didn't know what he'd done was wrong.

"This nadder, my, I guess you could call her my adoptive mother, found me. She healed me and took me in."

He sighed. "Please keep an open mind for this next part. I have what's called a Dragon's Soul, or the soul of a dragon in a human body. It means I can wield Dragon Magic. Camacazi, you have one too."

She gaped, then grinned. "That's so cool!"

"Because of this, she was able to give me some dragon magic. I can understand dragons and speak like them. I also have several draconic attributes."

"Like your teeth." Camacazi commented.

"Like my teeth." Hiccup nodded. "I met Toothless, or Friendly-Retractable-Teeth, his dragon name, when he was brought to the nest."

"Tell us about the Red Death." Magnus continued the interrogation.

"The Red Death is the Queen of this nest. She's colossal. She can control us; force us to bring her food. That's why we have to raid Viking Villages. If we don't, we'll be eaten ourselves."

A deep throated growl sounded below, and they jumped.

"Was that…"

"Her, yes." Hiccup answered.

"So where do we come in?" Camacazi asked.

"I honestly didn't like any Vikings before you two and Thuggory." He replied. "When you showed that you could think differently about dragons, I guess I figured I could trust you with how dragons really are."

"You say Vikings as if you're not one of us." Magnus said slowly.

He shrugged. "None of them really treated me like one. I was the outcast. I lived most of the time with dragons, have a dragon name…"

"What is your dragon name, by the way?" Asked Camacazi.

"Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy." He replied.

She blinked.

"Do I have one?"

"Dragon names are compiled of adjectives that describe you. Moonshadow doesn't know you well enough to give you one yet."

She nodded. "So you're basically the Queen Dragon's slaves?"

A somber nod. "But we want to change that. We can't do it alone, though. Maybe with the help of Vikings, we could, but not with this war going on."

"So if you change everyone's minds, we can help stop the war." Magnus nodded. "I see where this is going."

"If we get enough dragon rider duos, we might just be able to take down the queen." He replied.

"So…" Camacazi said, "Why did you disguise yourself as a noodle all that time, Forest Phantom?"

"That's what people expected of me." He responded. "It also made my ruses all the more convincing."

"So wait… You _meant_ for that torch to be burned down in the last raid?" Magnus's eyes narrowed. "And the incident with Astrid?"

"They had my _mother_ and they were going to kill her. I think I was justified. Torches can be rebuilt; but once something's dead there's no getting it back."

"Like our sheep." Magnus muttered.

"Besides, Astrid's not exactly the most popular figure amongst dragons. Seeing as I had a perfect shot of her about to try and kill a Gronkle, I decided to hit her with it."

Camacazi grinned. "I can see that. Man, she's _still_ got rope burns from that. It was funny when it was accidental, but now…" She started laughing.

Spike-Shooter-Blue-Flies-Fast huffed. _"Honestly, children. Be nice to one another!"_

Stealthy grinned sheepishly. _"Sorry Mom."_

"What did she say?" Asked Magnus.

"Ah, nothing." He replied.

" _Hey STEALTHY! Stealthy, HEY!"_ He turned to see Melts-Rock-For-Fun running up.

" _What?"_

" _This was really, really bad timing."_

" _Why?"_

" _The Vikings are still sailing around looking for the nest. The queen's probably going to order us to find them."_

Stealthy flinched. _"Oh. Yeah."_

The Queen roared. _**"EVERYONE WHO HAS PARTICIPATED IN A RAID IN THE PAST, GO OUT AND DRIVE OUT THE VIKINGS!"**_

Hiccup put his helmet back on and attached his wings. "I'm sorry…"

"What's going on?" Magnus cried.

"She ordered everyone that's participated in a raid before to drive off the Vikings… the ones from Berk." He replied. "I won't kill anyone, but I don't have a choice."

Firespot and Moonshadow stayed behind with their riders. They were new. They hadn't yet joined a raid.

Hiccup flew over the clouds.

" _Well, Hiccup, you finally got your wish."_ Tothless said. _"You can fight against the Vikings."_

Hiccup grinned. He wouldn't fight against Camacazi and Magnus.

The other Vikings were free game.

" _Alright! Let's show them what we can do, bud!"_

Toothless plunged.

One could already hear the Vikings screaming. The first shot hit the base of a mast, putting a hole in the middle of a ship whilst simultaneously knocking the mast off.

Stealthy dove in with the rest of the dragons and flung his first volley of projectiles at them. One stabbed into Stoic's arm as he lifted his axe to swing at a Nadder. It hit him and paralyzed him on the spot. The nadder in question, Melts-Rock-For-Fun, blasted through the mast of the ship in one shot, his flame continuing until it hit the rudder.

Spitelout ripped the spike out of Stoic. "The Forest Phantom? Here? Damn!" He couldn't afford his troops to wind up paralyzed over open oceans.

Stealthy's next shot hit a Viking with a bola. It wrapped around his arm uselessly instead of being thrown. The Forest Phantom flew out of the way as Toothless called his next shot, hitting a sea-stack and making it crash in front of the ships, halting their advance.

"RETREAT!" Spitelout called. "PULL BACK!"

The ships had to be rowed in order to pull back. The dragons chased them until they reached the edge of the fog. By then, all of the Vikings had leapt up onto their last ship, and were struggling to fit and row the boat at the same time.

Stealthy flew out of the fog and fired one last shot at the arm of an unfortunate Viking that had been cursing and wielding a sword at them, paralyzing him, then flew back into the fog.

The dragons flew back into the nest and landed on their perches, and Hiccup landed beside the others.

"Hiccup," Magnus called.

Hiccup took off his helmet and detached his wings. "I'm okay. Most of them made it out alive, just so you know."

"This is just going to make it harder to convince them that Dragons aren't evil, though." Camacazi grumbled.

"I didn't have a choice." Hiccup replied. "Until the Queen decides to let us, we can't leave. Hey, Camacazi,"

"Yeah?" She asked.

"How would you feel if Moonshadow gave you some of her dragon magic, so that you can understand dragons?"

She beamed. "That would be _awesome_."

Moonshadow loped over and crooned at her, grinning. She extended her head.

Camacazi extended her palm, like she was going to give her dragon a scratch, but then let it rest on Moonshadow's forehead.

Dragon Magic surged. Magnus watched in awe.

When they disconnected, Camacazi fell back, sitting down, and Moonshadow slumped. _"Woah… That was more draining than I thought…"_

Camacazi gaped. _"I can understand you now!"_

Magnus blinked. "What?"

"This is the reason I figured we should do it now." Hiccup replied. "She temporarily forgot how to speak Norse. It'll wear off in a couple hours."

" _Wait… What did you just say?"_ Camacazi asked.

Hiccup rolled his eyes.

* * *

 **Astrid: Hey, why wasn't I in that chapter?**

 **Hiccup: I already told you.**

 **Astrid: Yeah yeah, keep joking Hiccup.**

 **Ruffnut: Can we blow stuff up yet?**

 **Tuffnut: Yeah, cause if we could, that would be awesome.**

 **Magnus: You don't have Barf and Belch yet. Of course you can't.**

 **Ruff &Tuff: Aww**

 **Stormfly: I want out of the arena already. Hiccup, hurry up!**

 **Hiccup: I'm stuck in the Queen's nest right now. Sorry.**

 **Camacazi: I'm glad I can understand Norse again.**

 **Moonshadow: So, how was the mission?**

 **Toothless: I blew up a boat and Hiccup paralyzed Stoic.**

 **Everyone but Hiccup and Dragons: HICCUP!**

 **Fishlegs: Why would you do that?**

 **Hiccup: This is not cannon! I clearly have a different mindset than in Cannon! Give me a break!**

 **Black Cat: Yeah, seriously. After all, I'm the one controlling events in there. I thought Hiccup paralyzing Stoic would be funny. Anyways, all you readers, I'm sorry I posted the chapter than took it down. I just made a few mistakes. If I missed anything, please review and tell me 'cause I wrote this early in the morning and I probably messed up a bit. And to wrap this up: See ya later!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

How to Free Your Dragons

When Hiccup next felt the Queen's guard let down, it was near midnight, and the teens were asleep. He woke them up.

"Hiccup? What's going on?" Asked Camacazi.

"Queen let her guard down. Let's go."

The two got up and onto their dragons. Hiccup and Tothless took off first, joining the groups of dragons silently leaving. They flew through the fog and sea stacks. To their surprise, Blue and several other dragons were following them quietly, as to not wake the Queen. She was likely asleep if she'd let her guard down that early.

"Hey, wasn't that Sea-stack standing up when we came through here last?" Magnus asked.

Hiccup nodded. "Toothless knocked it down during the battle."

"Oh."

They continued to fly until they reached the island and circled around to the backside of it. "I was thinking. We should try and pair up more dragon riders."

"With which Viking?" Asked Camacazi.

"Maybe Fishlegs?" Magnus suggested.

They glanced at him.

"He's got a pretty open mind." He justified his choice.

They nodded. Fishlegs loved to learn new things. If he could learn the truth about dragons, he would b overjoyed. Not only that, but he was pretty gentle.

" _We could pair him up with Lugs-Much-Meat."_ Toothless suggested.

Hiccup nodded. " _That sounds like a good match."_

Toothless beamed. _"YES! I'm the best at choosing these things EVER!"_

Hiccup rolled his eyes. _"Whatever you say, bud."_

"What are they saying?" Magnus asked.

"They want to pair Fishlegs up with the Gronkle in the arena." Camacazi explained. "And Toothless is proud of himself."

"Oh."

They flew over the cove.

" _Hey, Mom!"_ Hiccup called to the Nadder. _"This is where we've been staying. I'm going to drop by Berk and get a new Dragon-rider duo set up!"_

Blue smiled at him. _"Sure, just be careful and be back here long before dawn."_

" _Yeah, okay Mom."_

The group lifted higher into the air and angled towards Berk. Hiccup stopped them.

"What?" Asked Magnus.

"Go straight to the arena. I'll go get Fishlegs."

They nodded and flew to the arena. Hiccup flew low through the trees and landed on the outskirts of Berk, casting an illusion over his armor. He walked to the Ingerman house and knocked on Fishleg's window.

Fishlegs shot up. "Who's there?"

"Fishlegs!" Hiccup whisper-yelled, waving for his attention.

Fishlegs turned and gaped. "Hiccup? What's going on?"

"Follow me!"

Fishlegs, ever the curious Viking, did as he said, following Hiccup through the streets, dodging the guards and making him more than a little concerned about what they were doing, until they finally reached the Arena.

"Uh, Hiccup," Fishlegs asked, "Why are we in the Arena?"

"Just relax. I want to show you something."

"What?"

"Okay, you just have to promise not to yell or scream or run off and tell people."

He frowned. "Okay… Hiccup, you're starting to worry me."

"Good. You'd have to be nuts not to be worried by this point." Hiccup responded. "Anyways, Dragons aren't what we think they are."

"What do you mean by that?" Fishlegs asked suspiriously.

"Remember your promise."

"O-okay…"

"They're being controlled by a giant dragon called a Red Death and forced to raid us for food because the Red Death is so big. If they don't give the Red Death enough food, they'll be eaten themselves."

"How do you know this?" Asked Fishlegs.

"I've been to the nest." He replied.

Fishlegs took a few steps back. "You're crazy."

"I'm not. Watch."

He walked to the door of Meatlug's cage. _"Hey, Lugs-Much-Meat, we've been trying to pair humans up with dragons for a bit, as duos. Would you mind having a human friend?"_

" _They can't all be bad."_ Meatlug said timidly, _"So… I'll give it a shot."_

Whispers of encouragement came from cages all around. Hiccup opened the cage door, and Meatlug stepped out, walking peacefully around. Hiccup put his hand on her snout, a sign of trust.

"Woah… Hiccup… How are you doing that?" Asked Fishlegs.

"It's okay, just show her you don't mean any harm." Hiccup coaxed, leading her over to Fishlegs. He grabbed Fishleg's hand and held it forwards, placing it on Meatlug's snout.

He grinned in astonishment as the dragon accepted him. "Wow… Hiccup, this is amazing! How do you know this?"

"Guys, you can come down now!" He called.

Camacazi and Moonshadow entered first, followed quickly by Toothless, then by Magnus and Firespot. Fishlegs gaped. "Woah…"

Meatlug rubbed her head on him. _"Hey. So I'm Lugs-Much-Meat. Who're you?"_

"Hi there." Fishlegs suddenly got into it. "I'm Fishlegs. Uh, do you mind if I call you Meatlug?"

Camacazi, Hiccup, and the dragons all had the same reaction as they did when Magnus named Firespot.

"Hit the nail on the head again?" Magnus questioned Firespot silently. Firespot nodded.

"What?" Fishlegs asked. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Nope. You're fine." Hiccup grinned. "That's cool."

"How did you discover this?" Fishlegs asked.

"My life got saved by a Deadly Nadder when I was five and Snotlout stabbed me with his Dad's hunting knife."

"Oh yeah. I remember that." Fishlegs responded. "You came back and acted weird for days afterwards, and Fishlegs made us swear never to tell anyone."

Hiccup nodded, releasing the other dragons, who silently exited the arena.

"Hiccup, what are you doing?" Fishlegs asked.

"Just relax, Fishlegs, I already knew all of them before they were imprisoned here." Hiccup reassured him. "Hey, try getting on Meatlug."

Meatlug let him on, and Hiccup got on Toothless. The group then took off and flew.

Fishlegs gasped. "Woah! I'm flying on a dragon! This is amazing!"

" _YAY! He likes it!"_ Meatlug cheered. _"You and I will go places, Fishlegs, my friend!"_

They flew over the woods.

"Uh, Hiccup, where are we going?" Fishlegs asked. "Are we going to the nest?"

"No." Hiccup replied. "Well, I guess you could call it a nest, since there are dragons living there, but not the big one with the Red Death."

They plunged. Fishlegs clutched onto Meatlug for dear life. "Oh boy… Ease up a little Meatlug, I've never been this high off the ground before!"

She eased up a bit. _"Sorry Fish!"_

They landed in the cove and were instantly surrounded by the flock of nadders and two nightmares that had accompanied them.

" _Our son!"_ The nightmares swarmed Arrogant-Fire-Brain happily. Arrogant-Fire-Brain huffed.

" _Mom, Dad, quit cuddling me already. It's embarrassing!"_

" _Flies through storms! My baby!"_ Spike-Shoter-Blue-Flock Leader cried, nuzzling her daughter.

The whole flock of Nadders swarmed her, in fact.

"What's going on?" Asked Fishlegs.

"Those are her family." Hiccup gestured to Flies-Through-Storms. "And those two Nightmares are his parents."

"Woah. So, Hiccup, how do you know them?" Asked Fishlegs.

Spike-Shooter-Blue-Flies-Fast walked up behind him. "This here is my adoptive mother." Hiccup commented. "I have what you call a Dragon's soul. I can understand their language and possess a bit of dragon magic, as well as draconic attributes, like a strong sense of hearing and smell."

"So _that's_ why the whole training thing affected you!" Fishlegs gasped. "I was wondering about that!"

He nodded. "Uh, don't freak out, but I kind of made some armor that made me look like a dragon. I've been wearing it this whole time but have been using an illusion to hide it."

"Really? Can I see?" Fishlegs asked.

Hiccup let go of the illusion.

Fishlegs twitched. "The Forest Phantom."

"Yep."

"You're the Forest Phantom."

"This whole time."

"I was quoting dragon facts about you, to you, this whole time."

"Mhm!"

"How did you even keep a straight face?"

"I didn't. That was all illusion magic. I was actually doing this." Hiccup fell over laughing.

Fishlegs flushed in embarrassment, then perked up. "So how much of it was true?"

"I can fly faster than a zippleback, and the spikes do come from gauntlets on my arms, which attach to my wings. I clearly don't have a tail, I use the sail on my back for steering. I'm also pretty stealthy, if I do say so myself. After all, my dragon name is small-dragon-soul-stealthy."

"Oh. Wait, dragon name? Meatlug already had a name? What was it?"

"Lugs-Much-Meat. This here is Friendly-Retracteble-Teeth, otherwise known as Toothless." Hiccup introduced Toothless. "The nadder from the arena is called Flies-Through-Storms, or Stormfly. She's basically my cousin. The Nightmare is Arrogant-Fire-Brain… and the name is well earned."

" _HEY!"_ He blasted fire at Hiccup, who easily dodged with a laugh and fired off a paralytic spike, which the Nightmare failed to dodge. He froze in place and Hiccup continued. "Camacazi's dragon's name is Steals-A-Lot, and Magnus's friend is called Curious-Fire-Spot. My mother's name is Spike-Shooter-Blue-Flies-Fast."

"Oh. Those are long." Fishlegs commented.

"Not in the dragon language." Hiccup responded. "Besides, we all have nicknames that we use as dragon names."

Fishlegs gasped. "My brain is overloading right now."

Sure enough, there was a bit of smoke coming out of his right ear (Not really, but there might as well have been).

Hiccup grinned. "I guess it's too much information at once?"

He nodded. "I've never had this problem before."

" _Hey, Meatlug, can you fly him back to the outskirts of the village_?" Asked Hiccup.

She nodded. _"Sure thing!"_

"Hey, Fishlegs, Meatlug will take you to the village outskirts." Hiccup told him. "She'll stay here for tonight. You can have the night to mull this over."

Fishlegs nodded. "See you in the morning! Bye!"

He got on Fishlegs and flew off.

" _Mission success!"_ Toothless crowed.

" _You said it!"_ Hiccup celebrated.

Magnus just stood there. "I feel very left out of this conversation."

Camacazi shrugged. "Well, I'll translate when it concerns you. We should probably head back too. See ya, Hiccup!"

He waved and they left the cove through a small pathway.

Hiccup and Toothless continued to prance around and celebrate their success until Meatlug was asked to sit on them when she returned.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

How to Annoy your Nightmare

CLANG! Astrid's curse rang out as she once again missed her target and instead accidentally intercepted Eydis's arrow on its way to the Nadder's side. Eydis went on a spiel of colorful language and Astrid shot it right back at her as they dodged away from the dragon. Hiccup, as usual, played the noodle and hung back as Flies-Through-Storms blasted at Snotlout, who had been running at her from behind. He had taken the shield lesson to heart and had luckily been carrying one, and thus did not die.

Camacazi suddenly appeared on Flies-Through-Storm's head, twirling a knife. Startled, the blue nadder whipped her head back and forth and Camacazi landed gracefully on the ground a ways away. "CAMACAZI!" Gobber bellowed from the outside of the arena. "IF YA CAN GET THAT CLOSE TO IT, DO SOME DAMAGE, WILL YA?"

"Yeah yeah. In a minute." Camacazi replied.

Dogsbreath ran at Flies-Through-Storms head-on. She gave him a deadpan look and bit him in the back of the shirt to throw him at the twins, who were more busy fighting themselves than fighting her. Magnus made a few strikes just to look convincing every now and then, but ultimately Hiccup subdued her with a small clump of dragon-nip and an apology and a promise for more later.

As the gates swung closed, Gobber descended into the ring. "Alright. Some o' ya are improvin'. I've gotta say, Eydis 'ere's been makin' leaps an' bounds…"

And she had. Eydis had gone, over the course of the past few days, from being the pyromaniac archer that sniped enemies from afar… to an even bigger pyromaniac who was much more daring. She'd been practicing her aim daily on everything that moved; Snotlout, sheep, Snotlout, birds, Snotlout, yaks, Snotlout, chickens, Snotlout, shields that were tossed into the air for target practice, Snotlout, Dogsbreath… you get my point. Her skills at making incendiaries had also improved, and she had gotten a recipe from Trader Johan for something called Napalm. None of them were very eager to see what exactly it did, but they knew it had something to do with fire. She was training almost obsessively, which was strange because it had seemingly never mattered to her before. She must've really wanted to fight that nightmare.

Astrid had been improving as well. She'd also been practicing obsessively, but not as well as Eydis had. She just threw her axe at trees a ton, oh, and she also threw it at Snotlout.

Then there was Hiccup. In the eyes of the village, he'd actually gotten better. He hadn't, though. He'd already been much, much better than he was currently letting on even before that point in time. He had no intention to show what he could really do in a dragon fight.

Snotlout had improved as well, having learned that maybe charging in blindly every time wasn't going to work, and was trying different approaches to varying levels of success.

Of course, there were also Magnus and Camacazi, who, with a better understanding of dragons, were able to fight them better. Fishlegs was also steadily improving, especially after having partnered up with Meatlug. So far, her absence had not been noticed by Gobber, who hadn't tried to take her out lately.

Oh, right, Gobber was still speaking. "...along with the majority of ye. And others seem to be goin' backwards."

Indeed, it seems that the twins were making even less progress every day. As the novelty of fighting dragons wore off, they turned straight back to their favorite pastime; fighting each other. Almost every single wound they'd come home with was one that they had given themselves, and they hardly ever focused on the dragons even when they got annoyed and tried to roast them.

Dogsbreath hadn't changed a bit. He went with the same exact approach every single day, and managed to find other stupid things to do. He left his club at home and instead brought his pet grub, which Gobber had smashed in his fury one day, for instance. He would wear his mother's skirt instead of his pants and have to be sent home to change, and then would come back with a crown of sheep's wool instead of his helmet. Gobber's level of ire was rather high.

"I'm proud o' those who improved, an' I'm a little disappointed in the others. I'm going ta be holdin' a special little course right now for those who are fallin' behind. Dogsbreath, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, tha' means you. The rest o' ya are dismissed."

Astrid stalked out, swinging her axe, and Eydis collected her arrows and went to repair those she could. The one that had an encounter with Astrid's axe couldn't be saved though, by the looks of it. Snotlout started following Astrid, and Hiccup, Camacazi, Fishlegs, and Magnus exchanged looks.

"The cove?" Camacazi asked.

"I'll meet you there. Let me get my armor." Hiccup replied.

Magnus nodded. "See ya."

Fishlegs looked over at him imploringly. "Can I examine your armor?"

"Later." Hiccup replied. "Go say hi to Lugs-Much-Meat."

"You mean Meatlug."

"Actually, her real name is Lugs-Much-Meat, but whatever floats your boat." Hiccup shrugged and jogged off towards his house. Once he was inside, he closed the door and chucked Axe at the far wall, where it stuck. He hissed at it, and dropped the noodle disguise. As he walked up the stairs, Hiccup found himself deep in thought.

Fishlegs and Lugs-Much-Meat were getting along nicely, and so were Camacazi and Steals-A-Lot, as well as Magnus and Fire-Spot-Curious. If he really wanted to keep changing the minds of Vikings, then now would be a good time to pick another dragon rider.

Astrid was out of the question. She hated dragons with a burning passion and would sell them all out in an instant. Eydis was similarly a bad choice. While she really didn't mind the raids, even enjoyed them, her newfound love of killing everything dragony and setting them on fire was not to be trusted near him and his friends. The twins would just blurt out everything, so they were a no-go. Dogsbreath the Duhbrain… Absolutely not.

That, however, only left Snotlout in his age group, and Snotlout was not an appealing choice.

Well, maybe the others would be able to think of something.

He finished strapping on his armor, then shot out his backdoor and into the woods, taking flight.

It felt good to fly after a day of being on the ground. He hated dragon training, he decided.

Well, he'd hated it before, but he hated it even more now that it was eating his free time.

He soared through the woods, making sure to avoid the areas where he knew Astrid and Eydis usually practiced, and then swooped over the cove.

Fishlegs was socializing with Lugs-Much-Meat, and the other four were practicing aerial stunts.

Upon spotting him, a distinctive black dragon shot into the air. " _STEALTHY!"_

" _Hey, Toothless. How're they doing?"_

" _They're doing pretty well."_ Toothless replied, rolling his shoulders. " _In any case, I haven't seen you all day. Race you to the cod!"_ He took off towards the ocean at full speed, tongue lolling out.

" _HEY!"_ Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy cried. " _You KNOW I'm not as fast as you!"_

" _HAHAHAHAHA! THE CODS ARE ALL MINE!"_

" _YOU MEAN THE COD IS ALL YOURS!"_ Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy cried at his back, flying as hard and fast as he could to keep up with Toothless. " _AND FINE! I LIKE SALMON BETTER ANYWAYS!"_

" _BLASPHEMY!"_ Toothless roared at him.

Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy finally caught up to him as Toothless blasted the fish from the water, and he scooped up several that Toothless missed when they floated to the surface in order to stick them in his pouch. " _Finally, I can eat real food!"_

" _What have they been feeding you?"_ Toothless asked warily.

" _They expect me to eat their burned meats breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I only like the burned chicken! The rest can go die."_

" _It's already dead."_

" _Shut up."_ They descended towards the cove once more, and Fishlegs watched with interest.

"You went fishing?" He asked.

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast."

"Oh. I'll get Meatlug to start a fi…" Hiccup proceeded to eat a salmon raw. Fishlegs turned green. "It's still raw. You ate it raw."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow and turned to him curiously. "What?"

Magnus walked over and placed a hand on Fishleg's shoulder. "I forgot you haven't seen him eat yet. He was practically raised by dragons, so he's used to raw food. Apparently cooked food tastes almost intolerable to him."

"With the exception of chicken. You can't eat that unless you've burned it or you get sick." Hiccup informed them. "I'll eat the burnt chicken. Everything else I'd like raw."

"That is so gross." Fishlegs said, turning greener by the second.

"You okay there Fish?" Camacazi asked. "You're turning the color of Hiccup's armor."

Hiccup passed them each a fish. "I can only eat one of those. The rest are for you." Fishlegs turned and puked in a bush. "COOKED! I meant cooked! You can eat it however you want!"

" _What's wrong with him?"_ Steals-A-Lot asked.

" _He thinks raw fish is disgusting."_ Toothless replied, having been able to follow the conversation.

" _What a backwards point of view."_ Lugs-Much-Meat commented. " _Must humans burn everything before they eat it? Food is a lot more healthy before you burn it, you know."_

" _Yeah. It's so weird. I mean, I have a human body, but I like raw fish."_ Stealthy replied. " _I guess it's just a matter of how you were raised. If you were brainwashed by your parents to think something was bad for you and disgusting your whole life, wouldn't you start believing it?"_

" _True."_ Lugs-Much-Meat conceded the point.

" _YOU STARTED EATING WITHOUT ME!?"_ Melts-Rocks-For-Fun landed and deposited a pile of assorted fish in front of him. " _Geez. Anyways, what's up?"_

Stealthy decided to voice his thoughts then. " _Well, I was thinking… We'll probably want to start making more dragon-rider duos, won't we? I mean, we kinda just stopped at Fishlegs, but I'm not sure who to pick."_

" _There's that Gustav kid."_ Melts-Rocks-For-Fun stated. " _I know a young Nightmare he'd get along with."_

" _Too young."_ Stealthy replied. " _And how do you know about him anyways?"_

" _I've seen him during raids."_ He supplied. " _Once or twice, anyways. I burned his house down once."_

" _Moving on!"_ Toothless stated. " _Sneaky, what do you think?"_

Fishlegs yelped, his conversation with the other two interrupted as Stealthy appeared on his head. " _Not the blond girl."_

" _The blond female is out of the question."_ Stealthy nodded. " _So are the twins. They'll just blurt out everything first chance they get, whether they mean to give us away or not."_

Camacazi blinked. " _If you're looking to pick someone, don't pick the guy with Dog breath."_

" _That leaves us with snot face though."_ Stealthy argued.

"What are you talking about?" Magnus asked.

"I feel so left out." Fishlegs said, depressed.

"We're trying to pick the next dragon rider. The option is Snotlout or someone from another age group." Camacazi stated.

"Oh. _Snotlout_." Fishlegs grumbled.

"Why him?" Magnus asked.

As she explained, the conversation continued as the terrors entered it. " _Small-Biter-Fetches-Random-Objects was thinking about it too."_ Small-Biter-Shoots-Sharp spoke up, cuing the orange terror into the discussion.

" _I was considering our options as well, and I came to the conclusion that the one with the curly horns was the best option. So I started thinking about what dragon he could be paired with… Arrogant-Flame-Brain would fit his personality perfectly, and it also gives us a motive to rescue him other than 'so he doesn't die'."_

They thought about it and nodded. " _They're very similar."_ Lugs-Much-Meat commented.

Small-Biter-Very-Painful puffed up. " _Can I bite him? I'm fine if I can bite him."_

" _You'll bite him anyways."_ Stealthy drawled. " _So, all in favor of Snotty?"_

It was unanimous amongst the dragons and, when Camacazi translated, it was for the humans as well.

" _Our only problem will be getting Arrogant-Flame-Brain to agree with this."_ Toothless stated.

" _It shouldn't be too hard."_ Stealthy shrugged. " _I'll just go talk to him tonight. He'll probably do anything to get out of that cell, right?"_

The rest of the day was spent preparing and just playing and relaxing. As soon as the sun set, Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy winged his way to the arena, Friendly-Retractable-Teeth following behind him as backup.

As soon as the guards passed, he descended into the arena and knocked on Arrogant-Flame-Brain's door.

" _What do you want?"_ The red dragon barked harshly.

" _Actually,"_ Stealthy stated, " _I have a proposition for you."_

" _Go die. Leave me alone."_

The forest phantom ignored this and continued. " _Recently, I've been working on making dragon-human partnerships to try and end the war between humans and dragons. It is possible. We even got Lugs-Much-Meat out of here with her own partner! I know a human that would be great working for you, if you want to try it. You could get out of here too, which would be a plu…"_

" _Shut up and leave me alone, noodle-boy. I don't want your help. I can defeat any brat they throw at me, thank you very much! I'm not going to lower myself to working with these wingless pieces of shit!"_

Stealthy twitched. " _Huh?"_

" _You heard me! Go away! I'll slaughter every last one of these ugly vikings and get out unscathed!"_ He hissed. " _I don't need your help,_ wingless _."_

Stealthy, pride wounded, puffed up. " _Excuse me? I am a Dragon-Souled!"_ He spat at the Nightmare's cage.

" _Then prove it, you piece of shit! I'll fight you right now!"_

Stealthy snarled and moved to unlock the cage until Toothless jumped down. " _No! Stealthy, don't do it. Let's go cool off. Come on, this way… out the gate."_

~o0o~

The next night, Stealthy returned to the cage. He sat in front of the gate. " _Please?"_

" _No."_

" _Please?"_

" _No."_

" _Please?"_

" _GIVE UP!"_

" _Please?"_

" _AAAAAARGH!"_

~o0o~

The next night again, he returned. At this point, Gobber had gotten ill from eating spoiled pork, and classes had been being skipped. Therefore Hiccup and the other dragons had free reign to torment Arrogant-Flame-Brain all day long.

" _Please?"_

" _Will you shut up if I say yes?"_

" _Yep."_

" _Then fine."_

" _YEEEEEEEES!"_ His roar attracted the guards, and he quickly hid behind the weapon rack as torchlight spilled in.

"Quiet down, will ya? You'll wake up the whole village, ya damned beasts!"

Hiccup bristled, but stayed quiet as the guard left.

" _Small-Dragon-Soul-Stealthy, that was not very stealthy. Change your name."_ Flies-Through-Storms grunted. " _You're lucky you sound like a Nadder or they would have been all over you."_

" _Did you have" "to wake us up" "this early?"_

" _Sorry!"_ He called quietly, and then he raced out of the arena happily.

Arrogant-Flame-Brain had finally agreed!

Toothless grinned and licked him as they made their way to Magnus's house. It would be up to him to bring Snotlout to the arena.

Magnus himself, however, wasn't so sure about this.

He thought back to his conversation with Hiccup. " _Are you sure this is safe? You had to annoy him into submission. How do we know he won't just eat us the second he's out?"_

" _He's a better person than that, don't worry! It'll be fine!"_

He sighed and knocked on Snotlout's door.

It was Spitelout who threw the door open. "Who tha 'ell is out 'ere at this ungodly hou… Oh, 'ello Magnus. Come to see Snotlout?"

The teen decided to ignore the very sudden mood swing. All vikings were like that. "Yeah. Could you please send him down, Mr. Jorgenson?"

"O' course." He turned and screamed upstairs: "SNOTLOUT! YOUR FRIEND IS HERE?!"

The boy, clearly not having gone to sleep yet, stumbled down the stairs. "Huh? Oh, hey Magnus! What's up, buddy?" He walked outside and Spitelout shut the door. "I knew you'd come around eventually! You can't avoid befriending the great Snotlout forever!"

"Yeah, that's not what this is about." Magnus deadpanned. He was starting to see why Eydis and Astrid used him as a practice dummy so much and once again he questioned their plan. "Actually, I have something to show you, so if you could follow me… Oh, and be quiet, don't call out to anybody. We're not supposed to be doing this."

"Will it impress Astrid?" He asked.

"Uh…" No. "Maybe." But he had to at least try or he'd never get Snotlout to go along with it. "Just shut up and follow me."

Snotlout was surprisingly good at sneaking around, Magnus realized. It must be something that ran in the family, as Snotlout was Hiccup's maternal cousin and Stoic clearly didn't have it.

"Why are we going to the arena?" Snotlout whispered as they avoided more guards. "And why are we sneaking around about it?"

Magnus signalled for him to be quiet. "When I give the word, we're sprinting across the bridge and hiding from the guard in the bleachers. Try and be quiet about it."

Snotlout nodded, seeming suspicious, but still going along with it.

"Ready… and… now!"

The two boys lunged from their hiding place and across the bridge, managing to get back into cover.

The guard circled around their hiding place and crossed the bridge, leaving them alone.

"Alright, now…" They slipped into the arena.

"Are we late-night dragon training?" Snotlout asked. "Uh, not to burst your bubble, but isn't that loud?"

"Dragon training… Kinda." He sighed. "Promise me you won't run back to the village, and that you'll hear me out."

"We're already this far, aren't we?" Snotlout huffed. "If the guard catches us, we're dead."

"So," Magnus stated, "Why do the dragons raid us?"

"Huh?" He asked.

"Why do you think the dragons raid us?"

"Well, they're hungry."

"Then why do they come back so much?" Magnus asked. "They come back even when we have little food to feed ourselves, and they always look hungry even though they supposedly eat so much."

"That is a bit weird… wait, supposedly?"

He nodded. "If they're not eating the fish, then what do you think is?"

"Haha. Don't be ridiculous. ONly a dragon could be that hungry." Snotlout replied. "Probably a big one, though…"

"It is a big one. Bigger than the village." Snotlout replied. "It's currently inside of Helheim's Gate. It's the Queen of the Nest."

"Wait wait wait, how do you know this?"

"Because I flew there on the back of a dragon." Magnus replied.

There was silence.

"You're serious."

"I am."

"You actually _rode_ a dragon?"

Magnus grinned slightly. "They're not the mindless monsters we make them out to be. They're controlled by the Queen. I've seen it happen a few times now. It's possible to reason with them, and to befriend them."

"Then why haven't we yet?" Snotlout asked.

"Vikings are very stubborn, and dragons can be just as much. When the Queen arrived and took control of the local dragons, they and the vikings began to attack and have been at war ever since, while only the dragons knew what was actually going on."

"So basically," He swung his mace, "If we kill the big guy, the war ends?"

"You're getting a bit ahead of yourself." Magnus chuckled.

Hiccup, in his noodle disguise, dropped down with Toothless. Camacazi followed with Moonshadow, and Fishlegs with Meatlug. Firespot landed and walked over to Magnus, and Hiccup took over. "The plan is to slowly reveal the truth to all the Vikings."

"Why not just tell everyone?" Snotlout asked.

"We're Vikings. What do you think we would do?"

"Uh… go kill the big dragon." Snotlout replied.

"Precisely." Hiccup replied. "And they would fail, because that thing is practically indestructible without humans and dragons working together. We have to take it slowly and convince everyone else one at a time, and we have to keep it a secret while we do it."

"So, why the arena?" He asked after a pause.

Hiccup grinned. "Well, when we decided to tell you, we figured you'd need a dragon partner to work with, so…"

He opened The cage for the monstrous nightmare.

Snotlout paled as it snarled at Hiccup. " _You'll pay for annoying me, noodles!"_

Hiccup gave a quiet snarl of: " _I'll take you down a notch later."_ Then he turned to Snotlout, who was staring stunned at the Nightmare.

"Wow…"

"Let's get a few things straight from the get-go." Camacazi stated. "We're partners. Our dragons don't live to please us, and we don't live to please our dragons. We're friends, and they're not animals. Most of them can understand every word you say, so watch your mouth."

He gulped. Arrogant-Flame-Brain puffed up, and looked him over slowly. " _Yeah, you're the loud one from the fights. I can work with you. Maybe this won't be so bad. Prove you're brave enough to be my rider."_

He stuck his nose in Snotlout's face, and the boy reached out a hesitant hand to pet the scales. "Wow. This is…"

The gang grinned, and Hiccup quietly closed the cage. "He's not going back in there anymore."

"Wait," Snotlout paused, "Isn't that the Gronkle from over there?" He pointed at Meatlug's cage.

They nodded. "So far, nobody's noticed she's gone." Fishlegs replied. "It'll take longer to figure out about him."

Snotlout nodded. "You probably have a name already, but since I can't speak dragon… How about Hookfang?"

Arrogant-Fire-Brain grinned. " _What do you know, he's better at giving names than my own parents! I do have very sharp fangs. Human, you and I will go places."_

"Now we should probably leave before the guard makes his rounds again." Camacazi stated.

"Right." Hiccup nodded. "Cami, if you please…"

She slipped through the bars and opened up the arena, and the humans and dragons exited.

"Hop on, then." Hiccup said as they all got on their respective dragons' backs.

"Wait, we get to fly?"

" _I get to fly. You get a piggyback ride."_ Arrogant-Fire-Brain replied.

Snotlout climbed on, and after Camacazi closed back up the arena, they took off.

" _To the cove!"_ Toothless called as soon as they were out of hearing range.

Somehow, in some way… They'd managed to recruit Snotlout and break out the Nightmare, and nobody was the wiser.

* * *

 **Snotlout: YES! Hahaha! Look at me! I beat As-trid! I beat As-trid!**

 **Astrid: In what exactly?**

 **Snotlout: I got a dragon before you did! Hahahahahaha!**

 **Hiccup: Snotlout, would you please cut it out?**

 **Hookfang: Yeah… Please. You're hurting my ears. Hey, *Looks at script* is it just me or is this completely different from the original plot of this story?**

 **The Black Cat 666: Yes, it is. I lost everything I had on this story except for what I already had posted, so I rewrote the plot starting from Chapter 9 and went from there. I don't remember what the original plot was.**

 **Ruffnut: What a loser.**

 **Tuffnut: Yeah. How do you lose your own script?**

 **The Black Cat 666: You know, I** _ **was**_ **going to make you the next dragon riders, but now…**

 **Twins: Wait, what?**

 **Ruffnut: I take it back!**

 **Tuffnut: Yeah, I totally take it back!**

 **The Black Cat 666: What you say on the internet has an impact on real life. It stays forever. No takebacks.**

 **Melts-Rocks-For-Fun: Are you being a guidance counselor now?**

 **The Black Cat 666: Nope. Guess again.**

 **Fishlegs: I think these people are bored of watching us bicker now. Can we get on with this?**

 **The Black Cat 666: *Ahem*, of course, Fishlegs. Thanks for reminding me. Stay tuned for the next chapter and make sure to review! I hope you all enjoyed reading!**

 **Hookfang: Why do you have to say this every time?**

 **The Black Cat 666: CUUUUUUUUUUT!**


End file.
